The strange case of Paul Appell's last memoir on Monge's problem: "sur les déblais et remblais"

Pedro Roitman (1) , Hervé Le Ferrand (2)

1 UnB - Department of Mathematics [Univ. Brasilia]
2 IMB - Institut de Mathématiques de Bourgogne [Dijon]

We analyze a case of plagiarism that appears in a work published in 1928 by Paul Appell (1855–1930) in the collection Mémorial des sciences mathématiques. Appell's memoir entitled Le problème géométrique des déblais et remblais contains a verbatim copy of several pages from a memoir published in 1886 by Albert de Saint-Germain (1839–1914). By tracing back Appell's last years, we have found historical evidences that might cast a shadow of doubt on Appell's full responsibility by the plagiarism that appeared under his name.

Mots clés: Plagiarism; French mathematics; Paul Appell

Domaines: Histoire et perspectives sur les mathématiques [math.HO]

Pedro Roitman, Hervé Le Ferrand. The strange case of Paul Appell's last memoir on Monge's problem: "sur les déblais et remblais". Historia Mathematica, 2016, 43 (3), pp.288-309. ⟨10.1016/j.hm.2016.04.003⟩. ⟨hal-01347818⟩