Thank you for motivating me to gather my materials on Paris. I may
get to write that article, yet. It was good to hear from Anne Pajus.
If you contact her or any of the other IREM people, I'm sure they would
be glad to help. Below you will find a rough draft of what I was able
to piece together.
Jim Kiernan
Brooklyn College
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PARIS SITES
A good place to begin is the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers on
Boulevard de Sabastopol. The museum contains one of Pascal's original
adding machines. Near-by are the Archives National. Before you reach
the Seine you will pass Tour St. Jacques. Inside the tower there is
a statue of Pascal commemorating his experiments on air pressure.
To the right is the Louvre which contains a Frans Hals portrait of
Descartes and a Houdin statue of Pascal.
As you cross the Seine at the Pont des Arts you will arrive at the
Academie des Sciences. Take Rue Bonaparte to the Church of St. Germain
de Pres. Inside there is a cenotaph dedicated to Descartes. Follow Boul.
St. Germain to the inn La Procope and have the lunch special (if its
not dinnertime yet!). In one direction you will find the birthplace of
Sophie Germain. If you follow Rue M. de Prince to the end, at No. 54
you will find a plaque commemorating Pascal's (n-1)th domicile.
Now follow Rue Sufflot to the Pantheon. Spend some time there. Behind
the Pantheon is St. Etienne de Mont, Pascal's church. You will find
two plaques and a bust inside. Behind the church is 16 Rue Rollin
where Descartes once lived. Continue past Rue Monge to the Jardin des
Plants. Inside you will find a statue of its curator, Buffon. Double
back to Rue Monge and follow it to the Ecole Polytechnique, the home
of an entire class of 19th Century mathematicians. Nearby is the
University including College de France, where Roberval taught, and the
Sorbonne. The University is one of the oldest in Europe and specialized
in theology and logic.
On another day you may wish to start out at Port Royal, the refuge of
Pascal, and walk to the Observatory which is only open to the public
once a month by appointment. Behind the Place Denfert Rocherau there
is the Hotel Sophie Germain. Nearby there is a market on Rue Daguerre.
Walking down this rue you will pass Rue Gassendi and Rue Fermat.
Make a left to Cimetiere de Montparnasse, the burial place of Poincare.
On the other side of the cimetiere is Rue Huyghens.
If you visit the Tour Eiffel, you will find several plaques dedicated
to mathematicians. Nearby is 108 Rue de Bac where Laplace resided.
Across the Seine is the Palais de la Decouverte which has exhibits on
the history of mathematics. Condorcet met his fate at Place de Concorde.
If you take the train just south of Paris to the suburb of Acueil,
you will find many commemorations of Laplace. If you want to see his
birthplace, you need to take a train from Gare St. Lazare to Pont
L'Eveque. About 7 km away is the small town of Beaumont en Auge. You
can walk it on a nice day.
The cathedral at Chartes is a living monument to education. On the West
Portal there are relief personifications of the seven liberal arts. These
include Pythagoras, Aristotle and Ptolemy. Take time to investigate the
circular maze inside the cathedral.
J. Kiernan
1/26/99