The war of guns and mathematics
Subtitle: mathematical practices and communities in France and its western allies around World War I
By: David Aubin, Catherine Goldstein, editors
Series: History of mathematics -- volume 42
Publisher: American Mathematical Society
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Providence, Rhode Island
Language: eng
Number of pages: 391
ISBN-13: 9781470414696
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: War and mathematics; World War, 1914-1918; Science; History and biography -- Research exposition (monographs, survey articles); History and biography -- History of mathematics and mathematicians -- 20th century; Numerical analysis -- Historical (must also be assigned at least one classification number from Section 01); Mechanics of particles and systems -- Historical (must also be assigned at least one classification number from Section 01); Mathematics education -- Historical (must also be assigned at least one classification number from Section 01)
Description: "For a long time, World War I has been shortchanged by the historiography of science. Until recently, World War II was usually considered as the defining event for the formation of the modern relationship between science and society. In this context, the effects of the First World War, by contrast, were often limited to the massive deaths of promising young scientists. By focusing on a few key places (Paris, Cambridge, Rome, Chicago, Brno, and others), the present book gathers studies representing a broad spectrum of positions adopted by mathematicians about the conflict, from militant pacifism to military, scientific, or ideological mobilization. The use of mathematics for war is thoroughly examined. This book suggests a new vision of the long-term influence of World War I on mathematics and mathematicians. Continuities and discontinuities in the structure and organization of the mathematical sciences are discussed, as well as their images in various milieux. Topics of research and the values with which they were defended are scrutinized. This book, in particular, proposes a more in-depth evaluation of the issue of modernity and modernization in mathematics. The issue of scientific international relations after the war is revisited by a close look at the situation in a few Allied countries (France, Britain, Italy, and the USA), as well as in a new country created by the war, Czechoslovakia. The historiography has emphasized the place of Germany as the leading mathematical country before WWI and the absurdity of its postwar ostracism by the Allies. The studies presented here help explain how dramatically different prewar situations, prolonged interaction during the war, and new international postwar organizations led to attempts at redrafting models for mathematical developments."--Back cover
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Placing World War I in the History of Mathematics / David Aubin and Catherine Goldstein; title: Part I: Starting Up. Cambridge Mathematicians' Responses to the First World War / June Barrow-Green; title: The Total War of Paris Mathematicians / David Aubin, Hââeláene Gispert, and Catherine Goldstein; title: Part II: Joining In. Italian Mathematicians and the First World War : Intellectual Debates and Institutional Innovations / Pietro Nastasi and Rossana Tazzioli; title: A Mobilized Community : Mathematicians in the United States during the First World War / Thomas Archibald, Della Dumbaugh, and Deborah Kent; title: Part III: Moving On. Debating the Place of Mathematics at the âEcole polytechnique around World War I / Jean-Luc Chabert and Christian Gilain; title: "I'm Just a Mathematician" : Why and How Mathematicians Collaborated with Military Ballisticians at ãGavre / David Aubin; title: Why Aerodynamics Failed to Take off in Nancy : An Unexpected Casualty of World War I / Laurent Rollet and Philippe Nabonnand.