He obtained a doctorate on Fresnel waves from Paris in 1901. Geometry is founded on arbitrarily chosen axioms - there are infinitely many equally true geometries.
Experience provides the axioms of geometry, the basis is experimental, the development deductive.
The axioms of geometry are definitions. Axioms are neither experimental nor arbitrary, they force themselves on us. Jules Richard is remembered for Richard's paradox involving the set of real numbers which can be defined in a finite number of words. The paradox first appeared in a letter from Richard to Louis Olivier. Next Main index History Topics Societies, honours, etc.