Re: [HM] Paris math history sites?

Bill Everdell (Everdell@aol.com)
Sun, 24 Jan 1999 14:15:50 EST

Pascal (d1662) was reburied in 1711 at St. Etienne du Mont on the street of
that name on the Left Bank. There is an illustrated tablet on one column that
one can stare at while listening to an ensemble playing the music of those
many coevals of Pascal who invented counterpoint. Across the nave is Racine,
who was equally awed by infinities.

The Lycee Condorcet is named for the innovator in probability theory and the
Lycee Arago for the 19th-century physicist.

The Cafe Procope, #13 rue de l'ancienne Comedie, opened in 1670. D'Alembert
used to hang out there with the lesser mathematicians of the _Encyclopedie_
project (like Diderot). Legendre came later.

Lots more in good Parisian guidebooks -- even the Michelin; but this is from
Hillairet, _Connaissance du Vieux Paris_.

-Bill Everdell, Brooklyn