Re: Bourbaki?

*** T. Winter wrote:
In article <xQ0yh.17855$j7.345701@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> *** T. Winter wrote:
> > Bourbaki is adopted as name by a group of French mathematicians.
> > It was also the name of a real person (a particularly unsuccesful French
> > general). Originally it was a joking adaption, but became more serious
> > in the course of times. The family of the real general was not amused.
> > But it was an extraordinary choice.
> Has any explanation ever been given?

It is not altogether clear. There is some explanation in:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbaki_group> and more complete in:
<http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Bourbaki_1.html>.

Below is a link to a text by a "Professeur Robert Mainard", unknown
to me.

< http://www.academie-stanislas.org/Mainard01.pdf >

On page 12 of the PDF file (page 152 according to the page
numbers of the original), a section "Choix du nom" explains
that "Bourbaki's Theorem" was a well-known joke that had
been played on first year students of "Ecole Normale Superieure"
by a third year student (un troisieme, or "un cube").

The name of the joker was Raoul Husson. Mainard's text
says that, according to Cartan, Raoul Husson would quite
likely have learnt of the career of General Bourbaki through
military instruction classes. The joke dates back to 1923,
according to Mainard.

David Bernier



> I believe Andre Weil, who was probably the father-figure,
> was extremely anti-militaristic, even for a mathematician.
> (Wasn't he sentenced to death for refusing to register for the army
> under the Vichy regime, or is my memory playing up?)

That is wrong. He was in Finland during WWII. He was arrested,
accused of espionage for the USSR in Finland, but later released.
Rolf Nevanlinna apparently spread the story that he was sentenced
to death.
.