Beyond Galois and Poincaré: individual creations and collective dynamics in sciences and techniques of the 19th and 20th centuries
How is scientific and technical created? How can be formed formed from local specificities while at the same time becoming part of the long-term through universal results? The tension between individual creativity and collective dynamics raises the particularly rich questions for thinking sciences of yesterday and today.
This seminar aims to develop a thinking look on sciences and techniques from recent and innovative research works. As a research field, the history of science presents an interdisciplinary nature, including many approaches of general history, philosophy, or literary and linguistic studies. It allows not only to think of the individual and collective dimensions of sciences and techniques but also to gain analytical tools of social challenges from the contemporary world and its future evolutions (fundamental research; ethics; energies; risks; ect.).
The seminar will focus on joint themes on the one hand, and on the other, personalized projects. Time will be shared between joint work in PC and research projects in the archives of the Ecole Polytechnique, the only fonds in the world for history of sciences and techniques.
Personal or collective projects
During the first sessions, each student will be guided in choosing a theme of history of sciences and techinques which will constitute a personal or group work. These projects aim to give to each student the opportunity to conduct works according to their personal intererst (specific scientific field, given historical time, approach, theme, specific issues).
The riches of the archival fonds in the Ecole's History Centre enables students to develop original work that can be enhanced. Indeed, many fonds have never been studied but these fonds present a large variety of research themes from the perspective of scientific fields but also from the perspective of technological objects or other fields like arts, philosophy, litterature, etc.
Personal project will be valorized by leading productions like a publication in a dedicated to studies of science (including the journals associated with the Ecole), an exposition or mediating devices for the Musée de l'X, a documentary film, Internet publications, etc. Depending on the chosen format, projects can be conducted individually or in groups.
Course content
One of the objectives of the common part of the seminar will be that individual projects may be enhanced during later professional activities. The seminar program will therefore be determined during the first sessions according to participants' centers of interest. The seminar will provide each student with problems and methods based on pioneering works of young researchers with which personal interactions can be developed, as well with some international events planned in Paris this year.
- First sessions: beyond Galois and Poincaré
The first sessions will offer case studies based on recent works conducted on the figures of Évariste Galois and Henri Poincaré. If Galois et Poincaré were celebrated as mathematicians, we will see that these two figures have a bearing on not only the history of many sciences but also the history of engineers, techniques, philosophy, litterature, etc.
We will take as our stating points two characters often presented as isolated and misunderstood in their time. There are many tensions presented by the Galois figure: universality of the Galois theory against the very short life of Evariste, revolution in the algebra theory against failures to the Ecole Polytechnique's competitive exam, abstraction of the world of ideas against deadly wound from a duel on a very real wasteland. We will see that these tensions are just apparent using methods that will enable us to reconstruct collective dynamics in which understanding the individual dimension of the Galois works. We will develop and then refine these methods during case studies focused on the Poincaré figure.
- Continuation of the seminar
The seminar will then focus on the students' projects, to which it will offer a methodological and thematic support through studies of major scientific fields intended in their intellectual, social and cultural contexts. The seminar will focus on some common threads of the last two centuries of evolution in scientific concepts. It will alternate thematical and chronological perspective in order to combine analyses and contextual setting.
Evaluation modalities: The evaluation will be based on three exercises proposed to the students.
- oral presentation during sessions. These presentations will be based on history of science texts that will be proposed to each student according to their personal project. They will be followed by a discussion with the group whose main aim will be to structure the teaching according to the interests and questions of the seminar participants.
- short knowledge test during the last session (mini-quizz format)
- involvement in a project (personal or collective) developed with archival fonds of the Ecole Polytechnique. These projects will lead to productions expositions at the library, publications (Internet or printed journals, related or not to the Ecole (X-Passion, Bulletin of the SABIX...)), or contribution to an international symposium.
Course language: French
- Teaching coordinator: Brechenmacher Frédéric