Mathematics and Mathematicians in Nancy during World War I

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Mathematics and Mathematicians in Nancy during
World War I

• Laurent Rollet Philippe Nabonnand
• Laboratoire de Philosophie et dHistoire des
  Sciences Archives Henri Poincaré
• UMR 7117 du CNRS
• Université Nancy 2

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Main topics

• I/ Mathematics and applied sciences in Nancy
  before 1914
• II/ The institute of mathematics and physics at
  war
• III/ The consequences of the war the example of
  the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology

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I/ Mathematics and applied sciences in Nancy
before 1914
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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 dAlsace dans un grand
  centre denseignement scientifique que nous
  fonderons sur notre nouvelle frontière .

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The development of the technical institutes in
province

• 1880s 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 daéronautique.

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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 Bichats
  death.
• Creator of the institute of aerodynamics and
  meteorology in 1913.

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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 dont have a high mathematical
  training,
• The engineer students dont necessarily own a
  baccalauréat and dont come from the classes
  préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles.

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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 science is 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 lindustrie 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 sagit donc pas daffaiblir
  lenseignement des mathématiques, mais de le
  diriger vers le but à atteindre sil est réduit
  en étendue, il doit être approfondi et approprié
  aux applications il doit être poussé jusquà la
  détermination des valeurs numériques et de
  lapproximation quelles peuvent comporter .

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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.

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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.

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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.
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Technical institutes (electrotechnics, chemistry,
etc.)
Institute of mathematics and physics
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The main mathematical actors during WWI
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II/ The institute of mathematics at war
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The number of students at the institut chimique
de Nancy (1890-1924)
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Foreign students at the institut chimique de
Nancy (1890-1924)
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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.

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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 dont 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The electrotechnics laboratory before and after
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Victims of war at the faculty of sciences
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III/ Some consequences of the war the example of
the institute of aerodynamics and meteorology
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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.

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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 1930s).

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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 lEst,
  which will become the Société des Amis de
  lAviation. This society seems to be very active
  and collects numerous supports and subsidies.

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A short-lived institution the institute of
aerodynamics and meteorology

• The aim of the Société des Amis de lAviation 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 lAviation 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).

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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
  détudes 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

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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
  lAviation 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.

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IV/ Conclusions
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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.

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Recteur Charles Adam, 1915

• Les savants français ne sont pas, en effet, et
  ne seront jamais comme leurs voisins
  dOutre-Rhin, qui se sont avec tant de cynisme
  déclarés nos ennemis. Le savant dAllemagne est
  un Allemand dabord, avant tout, par-dessus tout,
  über alles, pour qui la science elle-même nest
  quun moyen la fin suprême, la seule et unique
  fin doit toujours être la grandeur de
  lAllemagne, la domination de lAllemagne, la
  tyrannie de lAllemagne. En outre les savants
  allemands sont victimes, je le crains, dune
  spécialisation à outrance qui fait que chacun en
  dehors de sa petite science particulière, ne voit
  rien, nentend rien, ne comprend rien, et se
  laisse docilement mener .
• Mais nos savants français, tout en se
  spécialisant aussi, comme cest 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 quil
  y a de noblement humain subsiste toujours en eux,
  ou plutôt prédomine. La science française nen
  est que plus respectueuse du juste et du vrai,
  pour être toute imprégnée dhumanité

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Sources

• Archives de la Faculté des sciences de Nancy.
• Archives départementales de Meurthe et Moselle.
• Comptes-rendus des séances solennelles de rentrée
  de lUniversité 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 dun pôle scientifique faculté des
  sciences et écoles dingénieurs à Nancy, du
  Second Empire aux années soixante, Nancy, Presses
  Universitaires de Nancy, à paraître en 2007.
• http//www.atela.uhp-nancy.fr/cussenot/