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L’Enseignement Mathématique and Its Internationalist Ambitions During the Turmoil of WWI and the 1920s

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Mathematical Communities in the Reconstruction After the Great War 1918–1928

Part of the book series: Trends in the History of Science ((TRENDSHISTORYSCIENCE))

Abstract

The present chapter deals with the evolution of the journal L’Enseignement Mathématique up to the end of the 1920s. Created in 1899 with the sponsorship of leading figures in mathematics from all countries, the journal aimed to be a “universal and fraternal” instrument in the service of all those interested in the teaching of mathematics throughout the world. In 1908, it became, at the fourth ICM in Rome, the official organ of the CIEM (Commission internationale pour l’enseignement mathématique or ICMI—International Commission on Mathematical Instruction). Until 1914, the front cover of each volume of this journal proudly displayed a list of the sponsorship committee members, which included illustrious mathematicians from fifteen countries; but this list was replaced in 1915 with the simple mention of the role of the journal as the official organ of the ICMI, and this statement in turn disappeared in 1924, after which only the description “international journal” appeared. The examination of two specific sections of this journal, the bibliography devoted to publications and the section detailing ICMI activities, enables comparison of the changes that occurred before the war and in the 1920s, and provides a look at the new post-war mathematical landscape, including the destiny of its old and new institutions and its old and new periodicals.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Many historical studies of L’Enseignement mathématique, especially from the time of its creation to the First World War, have been published. See, in particular, the collective work (Corey et al. 2003).

  2. 2.

    All of this material, from 1908 to World War II, can be found on the History of the ICMI website: http://www.icmihistory.unito.it/timeline.php. In addition to this rich historical online resource, there is a large body of literature dedicated to the history of the ICMI; for more on the time period discussed in this article, see footnote 18.

  3. 3.

    «donner un soin particulier à cette partie de notre programme afin que le personnel enseignant soit tenu aussi exactement que possible au courant de ce qui peut l’intéresser».

  4. 4.

    For more on the structure of the CIEM, its Central Committee, and its different sub-commissions, see I.2. The CIEM as presented in the Chronique section.

  5. 5.

    Fonds Henri Fehr, Bibliothèque de Genève CH BGE Ms.fr. 8178 à 8180.

  6. 6.

    Fonds Fehr, Lettre de Laisant, 13/12/1898.

  7. 7.

    For methodological justification, see Gispert (2018).

  8. 8.

    For more details see Gispert (2018). This analysis was performed as part of the ANR CIRMATH Program: https://cirmath.hypotheses.org/.

  9. 9.

    I would like to thank Jules-Henri Greber, who produced the various maps presented in this chapter. For a complete list of the cities shown on this map, see page 4 of the appendix to my article for Historia Mathematica already quoted.

  10. 10.

    See «Compte rendu sommaire de la Conférence internationale de la CIEM», EM (16), 1914, 169–173, p. 169 of this book.

  11. 11.

    The small number of Italian participants in Paris is evident, in contrast to the number of Italians present at the creation of the CIEM, which took place in Rome, and at which Castelnuovo, the Italian delegate, played a leading role in addressing issues related to mathematical education.

  12. 12.

    See, for instance, the summary provided in Fehr (1920–1921b, 307–308).

  13. 13.

    See the chapter «Organisation de la Commission» in «Rapport préliminaire sur l’organisation de la Commission et le plan général de ses travaux», EM 10 (1908): 447.

  14. 14.

    The Central Committee consisted of Klein, Fehr, and Sir G. Greenhill, who were joined by D. E. Smith in 1912.

  15. 15.

    These commitments are outlined in Fehr (1920–1921b, 339).

  16. 16.

    «Vie de la Société», Bulletin de la SMF, 43 (1915), supplément spécial, p. 2. For more on the positions of French mathematicians, see Aubin et al. (2014).

  17. 17.

    For more on the history of the IMU, see Lehto (1998).

  18. 18.

    The history of CIEM during these years is somewhat unclear. I would like to thank Livia Giacardi, co-editor of the website on the History of the ICMI (http://www.icmihistory.unito.it/timeline.php) for extensive discussions regarding this topic. I would also like to acknowledge Gert Schubring’s paper (Schubring 2008).

  19. 19.

    The very rich correspondence regarding L’Enseignement mathématique that is preserved in Geneva in the Fonds Fehr is unfortunately limited to the early years of the journal.

  20. 20.

    The sections dedicated to CIEM are dealt with in the following section.

  21. 21.

    We will return to the extent of this mathematical world in the last section of this article. For more on the Jahrbuch, see Siegmund-Schultze (1993, 18–19 and 212–214).

  22. 22.

    The Rendiconti del Circolo matematico di Palermo did not appear in 1917–1918.

  23. 23.

    The sculptor Antoine Carretier, born in 1908, was a militant of the French anarchist movement, together with the writer Maurice Laisant (1909-1991) one of Charles-Ange’s grandsons.

  24. 24.

    See the Bulletin Bibliographique in EM 20 (1918): 314.

  25. 25.

    «apparaît si clairement le génie propre à cette science géométrique dont les plus beaux développements sont dus à des géomètres français».

  26. 26.

    See footnote 18. Smith’s correspondence with Fehr and Klein, which G. Schubring studied and published in part in Schubring (2008), provides a very valuable private version of events at this time. See later in this section.

  27. 27.

    “la science et en toute première ligne les mathématiques devraient pouvoir rester en dehors et au-dessus des terribles conflits de l’heure présente. Elles forment un terrain neutre sur lequel les savants de toutes les nations pourraient continuer à travailler en commun.”

  28. 28.

    He does so in a Chronique on the Commission and its publications from 1908 to 1920 (Fehr 1920–1921b, 309).

  29. 29.

    As can be seen from obituaries and announcements of other events that occurred in January, February, March, and even April 1919.

  30. 30.

    Consultés individuellement par lettre, les membres du Comité Central ont reconnu que dans les conditions actuelles la dissolution de la Commission internationale de l’enseignement mathématique devient inévitable.

  31. 31.

    See footnote 18.

  32. 32.

    I would like to thank Rossana Tazzioli for informing me of the sixty or so letters from Buhl to Élie Cartan that are preserved at the Academy of Sciences in Paris.

    «[…] quand on a publié un volume de EM, on se demande toujours si on publiera le suivant tant la situation financière est peu encourageante». Archives de l’Académie des sciences, Fonds Élie Cartan, 6.26/24.

  33. 33.

    Indeed, on May 1, 1928 (6.26/25), on the occasion of Fehr’s visit to Paris, Buhl wrote to Cartan: «Fehr sera là aussi et nous pourrons causer de EM qui, aux dernières nouvelles, n’est pas menacé. On vient d’achever le volume 1927 et je crois que 1928 existera.»

  34. 34.

    According to Henri Villat in his “Notice” written on the occasion of his first application to join the Académie des Sciences (Villat 1926, 16). This is corroborated by correspondence from Camille Jordan, who, during the war, called on his American colleagues to help rescue his journal by launching a subscription campaign (see Frédéric Brechenmacher’s talk, CIRMATH workshop, Paris, 6/2/2017).

  35. 35.

    For more on the Rockefeller Foundation’s activity in Europe after the First World War, see Siegmund-Schultze (2001).

  36. 36.

    Letter dated April 20, 1927: «Mais les AT (sic) sont dans le marasme et nous ne pouvons plus publier que 180 pages par an. … Les temps sont effroyablement durs. Avant la guerre, nous avions 480 pages par volume. […] aux AT le comité a décidé de ne publier gratis que 48 p. par auteur. Le supplément vaut 50f la page. C’est déjà effrayant à dire!». Fonds Cartan, 6.26/14.

  37. 37.

    Letter dated November 11, 1927: «C’est aussi compliqué que si l’on voulait élire quelqu’un professeur […] des personnalités comme vous comme Villat écrivent lettres sur lettres, envoient des recommandations par toutes les voies… Vraiment c’est trop» Fonds Cartan, 6.26/22.

  38. 38.

    Letter dated November 26, 1928: «l’encombrement des périodiques mathématiques est fou en ce moment». Fonds Cartan 6.26/29.

  39. 39.

    A report quoted in Siegmund-Schultze (1993, 18–19 and 212–214).

  40. 40.

    It was not until 1931 that journals published in Germany, which had been excluded since 1915, were again included in the SMF Bulletin (specifically the reports of the Academies of Munich and Göttingen; Berlin and Leipzig, on the other hand, were still excluded).

  41. 41.

    For all of the cities that appear on this map, see page 5 of the annex to the abovementioned article in Historia Mathematica.

  42. 42.

    As determined based on the CIRMATH database.

  43. 43.

    As in the previous sections, here we deal specifically with the CIEM’s activities at the time, which are the subject of the following sub-section.

  44. 44.

    See L’Enseignement mathématique 28 (1929), 317.

  45. 45.

    Romania appeared in the spotlight again in the following volume with an article on two new mathematical periodicals, one from the Polytechnic School of Bucharest and the other from the University of Cluj. See L’Enseignement mathématique 29 (1930), 343–344.

  46. 46.

    An account of this congress in the following volume of EM indicates that there were 400 participants, including several illustrious foreign scholars. See L’Enseignement mathématique 29 (1930), 338–340.

  47. 47.

    These countries included Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, the last three being among the new post-war European states. The USSR refused to participate.

  48. 48.

    This sponsorship by the University of Bologna was somewhat ambiguous. See Giacardi and Tazzioli’s chapter in this book. See also the chapter on IMU in this book.

  49. 49.

    Emphasis ours.

  50. 50.

    Felix Klein died in 1925.

  51. 51.

    Greenhill, born in 1847, died the year before the Bologna Congress.

  52. 52.

    According to the terms of the resolution.

  53. 53.

    For the version of this revival based on Smith’s correspondence, who was unable to attend the Bologna congress, see Schubring (2008, 27–28).

  54. 54.

    See above in Sect. 3.3.

  55. 55.

    These countries included Germany, England, Austria, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Holland, Hungary, Scandinavia, Russia, and Czechoslovakia. It should be noted, among others, no Southern European countries were included.

  56. 56.

    For example, regarding international scientific cooperation after the war, see Martin Grandjean’s thesis (Grandjean 2018), which is available online at: https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01853903/document.

  57. 57.

    IICI Archives, FR PUNES AG 1-IICI-D-IV-13. File Congrès international des mathématiciens. I would like to thank Laurent Mazliak for bringing this report and these archives to my attention.

  58. 58.

    Il n’y a été question d’aucun projet d’organisation de bibliographie ou de quoique ce soit de ce genre.

  59. 59.

    Le rapport que M. Fehr a présenté au nom de la Commission internationale pour l’enseignement des mathématiques.

  60. 60.

    Notably, Fehr was one of these organizers.

  61. 61.

    Personnellement, bien qu’invité en ma qualité de représentant de l’Institut, je n’ai pas été reçu sur le même pied que les délégués des gouvernements et les organisateurs du congrès n’étaient nullement renseignés sur ma présence. Je l’ai fait remarquer discrètement en une ou deux occasions, mais je n’ai pas cru utile de m’en plaindre de façon officielle.

  62. 62.

    Un des orateurs a suggéré que l’on pourrait s’adresser à la Société des Nations afin d’obtenir par ses voies un appui financier des gouvernements. Je suis intervenu dans le débat de façon discrète, me bornant à exposer le fonctionnement de l’Institut et celui de Commission, sans éveiller aucun espoir, tandis que d’autre part, j’ai attiré l’attention sur l’activité de l’Institut en ce qui concerne la statistique intellectuelle qui donnerait satisfaction à certaines des suggestions qui venaient d’être faites.

  63. 63.

    A promis de le tenir au courant des développements ultérieurs de cette affaire.

  64. 64.

    Fonds Henri Fehr, Ms.fr. 8183/7.

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  • Fonds IICI, UNESCO, AG 1-IICI.

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  1. GHDSO-EST - Université Paris Saclay, Orsay, France

    Hélène Gispert

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  1. Sorbonne Université, LPSM, CNRS, UMR 8001, Paris, France

    Laurent Mazliak

  2. Université de Lille CNRS, UMR 8524, Laboratoire Paul Painlevé, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

    Rossana Tazzioli

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Gispert, H. (2021). L’Enseignement Mathématique and Its Internationalist Ambitions During the Turmoil of WWI and the 1920s. In: Mazliak, L., Tazzioli, R. (eds) Mathematical Communities in the Reconstruction After the Great War 1918–1928. Trends in the History of Science. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61683-0_3

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