Galois Got his Gun

Frederic Brechenmacher (1)

1 LML - Laboratoire de Mathématiques de Lens

This paper appeals to the figure of Évariste Galois for investigating the gates between mathematics and their "publics." The figure of Galois draws some lines of/within mathematics for/from the outside of mathematics and these lines in turn sketch the silhouette of Galois as a historical figure. The present paper especially investigates the collective categories that have been used in various types of public discourses on Galois's work (e.g. equations, groups, algebra, analysis, France, Germany etc.). In a way, this paper aims at shedding light on the boundaries some individuals drew by getting Galois his gun. It is our aim to highlight the roles of authority some individuals (such as as Picard) took on in regard with the public figure of Galois as well as the roles such authorities assigned to other individuals (such as the mediating role assigned to Jordan as a mediator between Galois's "ideas" and the public). The boundary-works involved by most public references to Galois have underlying them a long-term tension between academic and public legitimacies in the definition of some models for mathematical lives (or mathematics personae)

Mots clés: public sphere; Galois; Jordan; Picard; Dieudonné; Liouville; algebra; analysis; groups; equations; personae; public; authtority; roles; discourses; public sphere.

Domaines: Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences; Histoire et perspectives sur les mathématiques [math.HO]

Frederic Brechenmacher. Galois Got his Gun. 2011. ⟨hal-00630975v2⟩