Foreword |
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vii | |
Note from the translator |
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xi | |
Preface |
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xiii | |
Acknowledgments |
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xv | |
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xxi | |
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1 | (32) |
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3 | (8) |
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1.1 The Grandfather: Jacques-Nicolas Poincare |
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4 | (1) |
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1.2 The Uncle: Antoni Poincare |
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4 | (2) |
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1.3 The Father: Leon Poincare |
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6 | (4) |
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1.4 Origin of the Name Poincare |
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10 | (1) |
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11 | (16) |
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2.1 An Almost Peaceful Golden Childhood |
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11 | (3) |
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2.2 Zero at the Math Test of the Baccalaureate |
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14 | (3) |
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2.3 "Poincarre" at The Ecole Polytechnique |
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17 | (5) |
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2.4 The Ecole Des Mines -- The Thesis |
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22 | (5) |
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3 Inspector of Mines in Vesoul |
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27 | (6) |
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The Professor and the Savant |
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33 | (32) |
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4 From the University of Caen to the Sorbonne |
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35 | (8) |
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4.1 The Discovery of the Fuchsian Functions |
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35 | (8) |
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5 From the Sorbonne to the Academie |
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43 | (8) |
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5.1 The Discovery of a Terra Incognita |
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45 | (6) |
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6 The Prize of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway |
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51 | (14) |
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6.1 From Success to Triumph |
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51 | (1) |
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52 | (1) |
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6.3 A Secret Not So Well Kept |
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53 | (6) |
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59 | (6) |
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The Universal Thinker and The Public Figure |
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65 | (74) |
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7 French Geodesy and the Fight over the Meridian |
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67 | (16) |
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7.1 The Fight over the Meridian |
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67 | (6) |
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7.2 The Geodesic Mission and the French Geodesy |
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73 | (10) |
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8 The Controversy over the Rotation of the Earth |
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83 | (28) |
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8.1 The Origin of the Controversy |
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84 | (3) |
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8.2 Moving the Foucault Pendulum to the Pantheon |
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87 | (9) |
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8.3 Science and Hypothesis |
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96 | (1) |
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8.4 The Skeptical Polytechnician |
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97 | (1) |
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98 | (1) |
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8.6 Does the Earth Rotate? |
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99 | (12) |
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9 The Philosophical Work and its Impact |
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111 | (28) |
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9.1 Science and Hypothesis: "Latin without Crying or Greek without Tears" |
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115 | (6) |
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9.2 The Value of Science. The "Strangest Interpretations" |
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121 | (3) |
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9.3 Science and Method: The "Granitic Rationalism" |
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124 | (7) |
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9.4 Last Essays: "A Certain Embarrassment" |
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131 | (2) |
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9.5 Poincarism, Opportunism, Commodism, etc |
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133 | (6) |
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139 | (88) |
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141 | (36) |
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10.1 The First Dreyfus Affair: A Brief Overview |
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142 | (3) |
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145 | (7) |
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10.3 The Second Dreyfus Affair: The Rennes Trial and the Intervention of Mathematicians |
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152 | (21) |
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10.4 The Third Trial: "Wise Men in a Shed" |
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173 | (4) |
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11 The Role Model -- The Immortal |
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177 | (24) |
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11.1 Poincare and the End of the World |
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177 | (5) |
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11.2 Poincare and Science in the Twentieth Century |
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182 | (1) |
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11.3 Poincare and the Martingale Strategy |
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183 | (3) |
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11.4 Poincare Cited as a Role Model |
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186 | (1) |
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11.5 Poincare at the Academie Francaise |
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187 | (10) |
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11.6 The Price of Immortality |
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197 | (1) |
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11.7 The Reception at the Academy |
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197 | (4) |
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12 Last Commitments, Last Works |
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201 | (16) |
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12.1 The Press and Poincare's Lectures at the Faculty of Science |
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203 | (1) |
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12.2 Defense of the Humanities |
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204 | (7) |
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211 | (1) |
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12.4 An Educational Commitment: "What Things Say" |
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212 | (5) |
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13 To Conclude: the Poet of Mathematics |
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217 | (10) |
Bibliography |
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227 | (8) |
Name Index |
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235 | (2) |
Subject Index |
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237 | |