Abstract
Sylvestre Huet: We are now going to explore three major points concerning aspects of “mathematics and society”: education and training, mathematics and industry, and finally the use of mathematics in political debates and generally speaking in the humanities.
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Notes
- 1.
Two year preparation for the entrance examination or rather concours for the French grandes écoles. Translator’s note.
- 2.
Nicolas Bourbaki, pseudonyme given to a group of eminent French mathematicians who, starting in the 1940s, undertook the publication of an extensive treatise called “Elements of mathematics”. Its most famous members include André Weil, Jean Dieudonné, Jean-Pierre Serre, Alain Connes, Pierre Cartier...
- 3.
Known as Agrégation, a degree specific to France, needed to teach in classes práparatoires or in a good high school. Translator’s note.
- 4.
Henri Cartan (1904–2008), French mathematician, founding member of the Bourbaki group, considered to be one of the most influential French mathematicians of his times.
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Ngô Bao Châo, Franco-Vietnamese mathematician, jointly awarded the Fields Medal in 2010.
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Of the revolutionary calendar. Translator’s note.
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Form of government of the First French Republic, which lasted from October 1795 to November 1799. Translator’s note.
- 8.
André Lichnerowicz (1915–1998), French mathematician, Professor at the Collège de France and member of the French Academy of Sciences, in particular known for his chairmanship of the mathematics education reform commission, the so-called Lichnerowicz Commission, from 1967 to 1972, consisting of the teaching of formal (so-called “modern”) mathematics with an axiomatic base (algebraic structures, vector spaces and set theory) as early as primary school—without any success.
- 9.
French president from 1974 to 1981. Translator’s note.
- 10.
A multi-purpose hall in Paris. Translator’s note.
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A corps of civil engineers. Translator’s note.
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Louis Poinsot (1777–1859), French mathematician, member of the French Academy of Sciences, known for his contributions to rational mechanics.
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PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), a survey of 15 year-olds carried out every three years in the 34 member states of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and in partner countries; it tests the ability of students to apply the knowledge learnt at school to real life.
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TIMMS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), an international survey published every four years, comparing mathematics and science teaching in lower secondary schools.
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The Sorbonne library. Translator’s note.
- 16.
He described this school experience in The life of Henry Brulard.
- 17.
An extreme left French political Party. Translator’s note.
- 18.
In my seminars at the EHESS (École des études supérieures en sciences sociales) I have often addressed the general topic of the fear of mathematics, a very vague or sometime almost metaphysical fear. This is a topic in the cultural sociology of history which we do not know how to properly tackle, and which cannot be reduced to cognitivism or didactics.
- 19.
France need more scientists: http://irem.univ-lille1.fr/PetitionLycee.
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Government led by Prime Minister François Fillon from 2007 to 2012. Translator’s note.
- 21.
Period following the fall of Napoleon’s empire in 1815, which ended with the revolution of 1830. Translator’s note.
- 22.
Jean Dieudonné (1906–1992), French mathematician, founding member of the Bourbaki group.
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André Weil (1906–1998), French mathematician, founding member of the Bourbaki group.
- 24.
Étienne Ghys, French mathematician born in 1954, CNRS research director in the pure and applied mathematics department of the École normale supérieure in Lyon, member of the French Academy of sciences since 2005.
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Cartier, P., Dhombres, J., Heinzmann, G., Villani, C. (2016). Political and Social History of Mathematics Education. In: Freedom in Mathematics. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2788-5_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2788-5_3
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