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Mathematics and Mathematicians in Nancy during World War I

Mathematics and Mathematicians in Nancy during World War I. Laurent Rollet & Philippe Nabonnand Laboratoire de Philosophie et d’Histoire des Sciences – Archives Henri Poincaré UMR 7117 du CNRS Université Nancy 2. Main topics. I/ Mathematics and applied sciences in Nancy before 1914

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Mathematics and Mathematicians in Nancy during World War I

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  1. Mathematics and Mathematicians in Nancy during World War I Laurent Rollet & Philippe Nabonnand Laboratoire de Philosophie et d’Histoire des Sciences – Archives Henri Poincaré UMR 7117 du CNRS Université Nancy 2

  2. Main topics • I/ Mathematics and applied sciences in Nancy before 1914 • II/ The institute of mathematics and physicsat war • III/ The consequences of the war: the example of the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology

  3. I/Mathematics and applied sciences in Nancy before 1914

  4. The University of Nancy after the war of 1870 • Nancy becomes the last university before the Prussian frontier. • After 1870, the university has to deal with a large amount of students coming from Alsace and Moselle (Paul Appell). • The evolution and development of the university of Nancy is characterized by a scientific project centered on applied sciences in a patriotic perspective (la revanche). • Many professors from the university of Strasbourg decide to keep the French nationality and come to Nancy. • 1872 : the École Pratique de Médecine de Nancy becomes a faculty of medicine and the École Supérieure de Pharmacie becomes a faculty. • Edgar Quinet 1873 : « Faites de Nancy un autre Metz, un autre Strasbourg au point de vue moral et intellectuel. Vous le pouvez en attirant les générations nouvelles d’Alsace dans un grand centre d’enseignement scientifique que nous fonderons sur notre nouvelle frontière ».

  5. The development of the technical institutes in province • 1880’s : many technical institutes are created in province. • These institutes are not independent from the faculties of science: same money, same teachers, same problems... • Their aim is to develop the study of applied sciences and to train engineers for local industry. • The university of Nancy is a leading actor in this movement towards applied sciences and engineer education: • 1887 : Institut Chimique (ENSIC); • 1893 : Ecole de Brasserie et de Malterie; • 1900 : Institut Électrotechnique (ENSEM); • 1901 : Institut Colonial et Agricole (ENSAIA); • 1913 : Institut d’aéronautique.

  6. The main protagonists • Ernest Bichat (1845-1905) • Dean of the faculty of science until his death; • Political and economical networks in Lorraine; • Creator of the institute of chemistry and of the institute of electrotechnics, promoter of close relations between science and industry. • Albin Haller (1849-1925) • First director of the institute of chemistry. • Ernest Solvay (1838-1922) • Benefactor of the faculty of science; • Gives generous subsidies to the technical institutes between 1890 and 1914. • Gaston Floquet (1847-1920) • Dean of the faculty of science after Bichat’s death. • Creator of the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology in 1913.

  7. Some strong connections between mathematics and applied sciences • Mathematics play an important role in the curricula of the technical institutes  An auxiliary discipline. • Many problems and questions arise : • The number of students : 1089 students at the faculty of science in 1914, among which 300 at the Institute of Chemistry and 300 at Institute of Electrotechnics. • What shall be the objectives assigned to mathematical education in the context of the development of applied sciences ? • What would be the correct equilibrium between pure and applied mathematics? • Most students don’t have a high mathematical training, • The engineer students don’t necessarily own a baccalauréat and don’t come from the classes préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles.

  8. Henri Vogt and applied mathematics • 1896 : creation of the certificats de licence. •  Thanks to new subsidies from the Conseil municipal and the Conseil Général (Bichat) the faculty of scienceis able to develop new courses in applied physics (Perreau) and applied mechanics (Henri Vogt). • This creation contributes to establish some close links between science and industry. • Bichat 1896 « Mais que de desiderata encore à réaliser pour mettre la science en mesure de contribuer au développement, au progrès et à la prospérité de l’industrie nationale ». • Henri Vogt is elected on the chair of applied mathematics in 1899. He will involve strongly in pedagogical reflections on the relations between mathematics and applied sciences: • Vogt 1911 « Il ne s’agit donc pas d’affaiblir l’enseignement des mathématiques, mais de le diriger vers le but à atteindre ; s’il est réduit en étendue, il doit être approfondi et approprié aux applications; il doit être poussé jusqu’à la détermination des valeurs numériques et de l’approximation qu’elles peuvent comporter ».

  9. Mathematical curricula in Nancy before WWI • Mathematical education at the university of Nancy can be divided in two main streams : • 1°/ Licence de mathématiques. Students must obtain the following certificates: • Differential and integral calculus; • Rational mechanics; • Higher geometry; • Analysis; • Astronomy. • 2°/ Engineer studies (technical institutes): from 1908 the certificat de mathématiques générales constitutes the core of the mathematical training of engineer students. They also have to collect some other certificates.

  10. Before 1914: « La belle époque » • New buildings, new laboratories for applied sciences; • An increase of the number of students; • Research • 1910 : the faculty of science receives the hour from the Observatoire de Paris thanks to wireless telegraphy; • 1912 : Victor Grignard obtains the Nobel Prize in chemistry; • Teaching • 1913 : the university of Nancy receives a large subsidy from Ernest Solvay : • Creation of a chair in electrotechnics (Mauduit); • The maîtrise de conférences in electrotechnics is transformed in a maîtrise de conférences in physics but with the condition that the professor is able to teach mathematics (Grumbach); • 1913 : recruitment of a chef de travaux pratiques de mathématiques avec charge de conférences (Louis Maurice Roy). • 1913 : creation of the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology. • Jules Molk dies in 1913. Edouard Husson is his successor on the chair of rational mechanics.

  11. The construction of the Institut de Mathématiques et de Physique • In order to deal with the increasing number of students, physicists and mathematicians leave the palais universitaire. • The institut de mathématiques et de physique • 1906 : construction of the institut. • 1909 : inauguration.

  12. Technical institutes (electrotechnics, chemistry, etc.) Institute of mathematics and physics

  13. The main mathematical actors during WWI

  14. II/ The institute of mathematicsat war

  15. The number of students at the institut chimique de Nancy (1890-1924)

  16. Foreign students at the institut chimique de Nancy (1890-1924)

  17. The courses • The start of the academic year of 1914 is quite unchanged. All the courses in which there are some students are opened. • 1914-1915 : • Vogt gives more than 8 courses a week; Floquet is in charge of the course of differential and integral calculus; • The courses of rational mechanics, astronomy, aerodynamics, brewery are suspended (no students). • 1915-1916 • Floquet is in charge of the courses of rational mechanics and higher analysis; the course of general mathematics is made by Vogt. • 1916-1917 • Vogt: general mathematics and applied mathematics; • Floquet: differential and integral calculus, astronomy; • The practical works in mathematics are made by Vogt and Chanzy (lycée de Nancy). • All the maîtres de conférences of the faculty of science are mobilized. •  The old generation has to pay the price.

  18. The mobilization of the personal of the faculty • Edouard Husson (mathematics) is a sergeant in the territorial regiment of infantry of Toul (near Nancy) and then technical attaché in an aviation centre; later, in 1916, he will become technical instructor at the school of aviation of Pau. • Mauduit (electrotechnics) is an engineering captain in Toul; • Edmond Rothé (physics) is mobilized in his demand and works for a while in the radiographic service of the military hospital of Nancy. • They don’t give up teaching… at least at the beginning of the war. • After 1916, the only mathematicians at the faculty of science are Floquet and Vogt… Floquet will retire at the end of 1917.

  19. The mobilization of the personal of the faculty • Some professors of the faculty of science are involved in the invention of technical devices for the army: • Gutton : a grenade detector; • Guéritot (chargé de travaux pratiques en électricité) : wireless telegraphy in aeroplanes (along with Rothé); • Blondlot : periscopes; • Rothé: anemometer, etc. The case of Edmond Rothé (1873-1942) : • Director of the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology in 1913; • 1913, Les applications de la Télégraphie sans fil. Traité pratique pour la réception des signaux horaires et des radiotélégrammes météorologiques; • Chief of the aviation section at the Board of Inventions created by Painlevé and directed by Borel.

  20. Bombardments and destructions • Until the end of 1915, the material conditions of the faculty of science seem satisfactory. • BUT… • January 1916 (until January 1917) : • A high range 380 mm howitzer is installed in Hampont (Moselle); • Krupp type SK-L/45 Max (le Gros-Max); • Its targets are Nancy and Lunéville; • 28 deaths, 74 wounded and many destructions.

  21. Bombardments and destructions • Consequences of the 1916 bombardments: • No victims among the students and the professors; • The exams of the baccalauréat are made in the cellars of the faculty of science; • In 1916, Floquet is very optimistic because of the minor damages caused by the bombardments (blasted windows in the technical institutes and in the institute of mathematics and physics). • He is far too much optimistic ! • In fact, most of the universitary destructions will occur in 1917 and 1918: • February 1917: the university library is almost completely destroyed by an incendiary bomb; • 1917: the electrotechnics laboratory is destroyed by a torpedo; • 1918, October 31st: the museum of art history and the museum of archaeology are destroyed by two incendiary bombs.

  22. The electrotechnics laboratory: before and after

  23. Victims of war at the faculty of sciences

  24. III/ Some consequences of the war: the example of the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology

  25. The armistice • 1917-1918: the faculty of science is only opened for 4 months (after February 1918 all the courses are suppressed). • After the armistice, the faculty will provide some courses to 35 students of the American army: wireless telegraphy (Gutton), aeronautics (Husson) and applied geology (Thiébaut). • The academic situation of the faculty in September 1918 is very difficult. • Perhaps the worst period of the war.

  26. Consequences of the war • Material damages: some buildings and laboratories are totally or partially destroyed (institute of electrotechnics); • Many professors leave Nancy to Strasbourg: Müller (physical chemistry), Hackspill (industrial chemistry), Rothé (physics), etc. A bleeding ? • The demobilization is very slow and the faculty does not have enough professors. • The faculty needs money and there are not enough students, especially foreign students (who represented a strategic financial income before the war). • The technical institutes will suffer from the demographical gap during the Interwar period and they will have to attract foreign students, as well as students from the classes préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles (in the 1930’s).

  27. A short-lived institution: the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology • Before 1910, Edmond Rothé and Gaston Floquet share the same interest for aviation. • Rothé experiments wireless transmission with military dirigibles. • Floquet creates the Ligue aérienne de l’Est, which will become the Société des Amis de l’Aviation. This society seems to be very active and collects numerous supports and subsidies.

  28. A short-lived institution: the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology • The aim of the Société des Amis de l’Aviation is to establish in Nancy an institute devoted to aerodynamics research and education (both civil and military). • Floquet is convinced that this institute should also be devoted to meteorology. • In March 1912, Paul Painlevé, the captain Albert Etévé and the lieutenant Jules-Etienne Cheutin make a popular conference on aviation in Nancy. •  Floquet creates a technical commission for the construction of the institute of aerodynamics. • The Société des Amis de l’Aviation buys a 5 hectares field outside Nancy. • In order to erect the new institute, this field is officially offered by the society to the university of Nancy (July 1913).

  29. A short-lived institution: the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology • The institute of aerodynamics seems to exist, at least virtually, in 1913: • It is directed by Rothé; • 22 regular students; • June 1913: 10 students obtain the diplôme d’études supérieures aérodynamiques. • Jury: Floquet, Husson, Rothé, Hahn, Marsal and Guéritot. • In 1914: 50 students. • The architect André, who is well known in Nancy, is in charge of the construction of the building. The estimate cost is 18500 Francs. • Just before the war, Rothé obtains 20000 Francs from the Conseil Municipal de Nancy. • But the institute will never be constructed…

  30. A short-lived institution: the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology • After the war, in 1921, the faculty of science received a subsidy of the Société des Amis de l’Aviation but the construction of the institute is no longer a priority: • Floquet dies in 1920; • Rothé is in Strasbourg (he was elected on the chair of physique du globe in 1919). • End of the story: • In 1929 the faculty asks the minister of aviation for a chair of fluid mechanics in the name of the institute of aerodynamics… • A rhetorical argument.

  31. IV/ Conclusions

  32. Two concluding remarks • The Interwar period is a catastrophe for the faculty of science and for its technical institutes: • Demographic bleeding; • Financial crisis; • Young engineers are faced with unemployment; • New strategies: the technical institutes try to retie the links with industry but in a different context (creation of scientific foundations). • Predominant role of individuals: when they disappear the disciplines and the projects they represent also disappear.

  33. Recteur Charles Adam, 1915 • [Les savants français] ne sont pas, en effet, et ne seront jamais comme leurs voisins d’Outre-Rhin, qui se sont avec tant de cynisme déclarés nos ennemis. Le savant d’Allemagne est un Allemand d’abord, avant tout, par-dessus tout, über alles, pour qui la science elle-même n’est qu’un moyen : la fin suprême, la seule et unique fin doit toujours être la grandeur de l’Allemagne, la domination de l’Allemagne, la tyrannie de l’Allemagne. En outre les savants allemands sont victimes, je le crains, d’une spécialisation à outrance qui fait que chacun en dehors de sa petite science particulière, ne voit rien, n’entend rien, ne comprend rien, et se laisse docilement mener […]. • Mais nos savants français, tout en se spécialisant aussi, comme c’est la loi de la division du travail scientifique, conservent un esprit droit et ferme ; un esprit largement compréhensif, et avec cela du cœur, un cœur chaud, un cœur tendre surtout. Leur science ne les empêche pas de demeurer des hommes : ce qu’il y a de noblement humain subsiste toujours en eux, ou plutôt prédomine. La science française n’en est que plus respectueuse du juste et du vrai, pour être toute imprégnée d’humanité

  34. Sources • Archives de la Faculté des sciences de Nancy. • Archives départementales de Meurthe et Moselle. • Comptes-rendus des séances solennelles de rentrée de l’Université de Nancy. • Grossetti, Michel, Grelon, André, Birck, Françoise et al., Villes et institutions scientifiques (Rapport pour le PIR-Villes), CNRS, 1996. • Birck, Françoise & Grelon, André (Eds), Des ingénieurs pour la Lorraine 19è-20è siècles. Metz, Éditions Serpenoise, 1998. • Grelon, André & Birck, Françoise (Eds), Un siècle de formation d'ingénieurs électriciens, ancrage local et dynamique européenne : l'exemple de Nancy (actes du colloque organisé en 2001 à Nancy à l'occasion du centenaire de l'ENSEM). Paris, Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2006. • Nabonnand, Philippe, « La création du certificat de mathématiques générales à Nancy », in Grelon, André, & Birck, Françoise (Eds), Un siècle de formation d'ingénieurs électriciens, ancrage local et dynamique européenne : l'exemple de Nancy (actes du colloque organisé en 2001 à Nancy à l'occasion du centenaire de l'ENSEM). Paris, Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 2006, pp. 123-153. • Rollet, Laurent & Choffel-Mailfert, Marie-Jeanne, Aux origines d’un pôle scientifique : faculté des sciences et écoles d’ingénieurs à Nancy, du Second Empire aux années soixante, Nancy, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, à paraître en 2007. • http://www.atela.uhp-nancy.fr/cussenot/

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