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Laurent Schwartz (1915-2002) Et Le Colloque D’Analyse Harmonique De Nancy, 15-22 Juin 1947

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Laurent Schwartz (1915-2002) Et Le Colloque D’Analyse Harmonique De Nancy, 15-22 Juin 1947 LAURENT SCHWARTZ (1915-2002) ET LE COLLOQUE D'ANALYSE HARMONIQUE DE NANCY, 15-22 JUIN 1947. par Anne-Sandrine Paumier R´esum´e. | Juste apr`esla fin de la guerre, d`es1945, la Fondation Rockefeller va chercher `ajouer un r^oledans la reconstruction de la science en France. Son aide va ^etrevers´eeau C.N.R.S., sous la forme de deux bourses : l'une destin´ee`al'achat de mat´erielscientifique, et l'autre `al'organisation de colloques. Le premier colloque de math´ematiquesqui a lieu dans ce cadre est celui d'analyse harmonique de Nancy, en juin 1947. C'est lors de ce colloque que Schwartz va exposer pour la premi`ere fois ses distributions sph´eriques (aujourd'hui connues sous le nom de distributions temp´er´ees). Cet article montre comment le colloque participe `ala vie collective des math´ematiques,et examine en quoi ce colloque en particulier est important pour les math´ematiqueset la carri`erede Laurent Schwartz. Introduction Alors que l'on f^etele centenaire de la naissance de Laurent Schwartz (1915-2002)(1), revenons sur un ´ev´enement peu connu, qui a n´eanmoinsjou´eun r^oleimportant dans Mots clefs. | Laurent Schwartz, le colloque d'analyse harmonique de Nancy 15-22 juin 1947, distributions sph´eriques,internationalisation. Je remercie Caroline Ehrhardt pour ses relectures de mon texte, ainsi que pour ses pr´ecieuxconseils. Je remercie aussi Claudine Schwartz de m'avoir donn´el'autorisation de reproduire la photographie de Laurent Schwartz au tableau, ainsi qu'Olivier Azzola, archiviste de l'Ecole´ Polytechnique, de me l'avoir transmise en haute d´efinition. Cette photographie a pu ^etredat´eeet localis´eegr^aceaux recherches de Micha¨elBarany. Enfin, je remercie Jesper L¨utzen,responsable de The Archive, Institute for Mathematical Science, University of Copenhaguen, de m'avoir scann´eet autoris´e`areproduire la correspondance entre Laurent Schwartz et Børge Jessen. (1)Mentionnons une exposition `al'Ecole´ Polytechnique, pr´esent´eesur Images des Math´ematiques http ://images.math.cnrs.fr/Laurent-Schwartz-1915-2002 ou encore la journ´ee du Centenaire de Laurent Schwartz du 3 novembre 2015, organis´eepar Bertrand Remy, CMLS et Fr´ed´ericBrechen- macher, LinX : https ://indico.math.cnrs.fr/event/828/. 2 ANNE-SANDRINE PAUMIER la vie et la carri`erede Schwartz : le colloque d'Analyse Harmonique qui a eu lieu `a Nancy du 15 au 22 juin 1947(2). Ev´enement´ pour la vie math´ematiqueapr`esla guerre, ce colloque est le premier d'une longue s´eriede colloques internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S.) organis´een math´ematiques.Il traduit la mani`eredont les math´ematiciensont saisi l'opportunit´ede r´eunirun petit nombre de sp´ecialistesd'ana- lyse harmonique, fran¸caiset ´etrangers,dans une universit´ede province dynamique, celle de Nancy, sur un sujet pr´ecis. Ev´enement´ pour l'analyse harmonique, c'est lors de ce colloque que Schwartz ex- pose pour la premi`erefois ses distributions sph´eriques (aujourd'hui connues sous le nom de distributions temp´er´ees),et apporte sa contribution en th´eoriedes distri- butions `al'analyse de Fourier. Ev´enement´ enfin pour Schwartz, ce colloque marque l'internationalisation de sa th´eoriedes distributions et de sa carri`ere.C'est en effet `apartir de ce moment l`aqu'il fera de nombreux voyages `al'occasion desquels il pourra exposer et faire conna^ıtre ses travaux. 1. Une initiative pour reconstruire la science en France apr`esguerre : les colloques internationaux du C.N.R.S. D`esla fin de la guerre, la Fondation Rockefeller cherche `ajouer un r^oledans la science fran¸caise(3). Il s'agit de restaurer les contacts scientifiques, `al'int´erieur et avec l'ext´erieurde la France, de fournir des ´equipements cruciaux, et de former le personnel scientifique. Deux bourses vont alors ^etreattribu´eesau Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, l'une de $250,000 pour l'´equipement des laboratoires et l'autre de $100,000 pour l'organisation de conf´erences.Cette deuxi`emebourse, celle qui nous int´eresseici, vise le premier des besoins recens´es,`asavoir la restauration de contacts scientifiques, `al'int´erieurde la France et avec l'ext´erieur.L'objet de la bourse est donc d'aider le C.N.R.S. `afaire venir en France des scientifiques de haut- niveau `ades colloques. Ces conf´erences,petites et informelles, r´eunissent un nombre restreint de scientifiques ; elles doivent avoir lieu dans diff´erents lieux en France et durer assez longtemps pour avoir le temps d'accomplir un vrai travail. Elles sont per¸cuescomme ´etant le moyen de relancer des programmes scientifiques en France, (2)L'essentiel de cet article provient de la th`esede l'auteur [15], dont on peut consulter la bibliogra- phie pour des r´ef´erencespr´ecisessur les ´el´ements pr´esent´esici. (3)On se rappelle que la Fondation Rockefeller a d´ej`ajou´eun r^olepour les math´ematiqueset la physique fran¸caises,en participant `ala cr´eationde l'Institut Henri Poincar´een 1928 (voir [23]). En ce qui concerne le r^olejou´epar la Fondation Rockefeller dans les ann´eesd'apr`es-guerreen France, nous nous appuyons en partie sur l'´etudede [26]. Le projet de la Fondation Rockefeller s'ins`erepar ailleurs dans un cadre politique global, pour lequel on pourra consulter notamment [12]. SCHWARTZ ET LE COLLOQUE D'ANALYSE HARMONIQUE DE NANCY 1947 3 en incitant les scientifiques fran¸cais`ar´eorienter leur recherche afin de mieux l'inclure dans les d´eveloppements internationaux r´ecents. Institutionnalisation d'une certaine forme de colloque. | C'est au tout jeune C.N.R.S., alors consid´er´ecomme pr´edominant en France, que la Fondation Rocke- feller confie l'organisation de ces colloques. Tr`esconcr`etement, les fonds Rockefeller servent `afinancer les s´ejours et voyages des ´etrangers,´etant ainsi fid`eles`al'objectif initial de relancer les contacts entre scientifiques fran¸caiset ´etrangers.Les colloques sont publi´espar le C.N.R.S. dans une collection d´edi´ee. G´eographies. | Si les bourses de la Fondation Rockefeller ont pour but une restaura- tion de la communaut´escientifique fran¸caisetelle qu'elle existait avant la guerre, elles proc`edent pour cela `aune modification de la mani`eredont les individus interagissent entre eux, induisent une meilleure visibilit´edes universit´esde province en France(4) et de la science fran¸caisesur la sc`eneinternationale. En terme de g´eographies,les colloques se positionnent donc `adeux ´echelles. A l'´echelle nationale tout d'abord, la volont´ede favoriser les universit´esde province permet l'organisation d'entre un tiers et la moiti´edes colloques `al'ext´erieurde Pa- ris. A l'´echelle internationale ensuite, puisque les colloques sont l'occasion pour les Fran¸caisd'inviter des scientifiques ´etrangers`avenir conna^ıtreleurs travaux, et donc de relancer les contacts scientifiques interrompus pendant la guerre. Ils ont aussi eu pour cons´equence,comme le rel`eve un rapport de la Fondation Rockefeller en 1952, de d´evelopper les voyages scientifiques ult´erieursdes scientifiques fran¸cais.C'est le cas pour Laurent Schwartz, pour qui nous pouvons parler d'internationalisation de sa carri`ereet de ses math´ematiquesapr`es1947, ainsi que nous le verrons plus loin. Sp´ecialisation. | Un troisi`emeenjeu relatif `al'organisation de ces colloque est celui de la sp´ecialisation,c’est-`a-direde l'organisation de colloques sur des sujets pr´ecis, sur lesquels travaillent d´ej`aquelques scientifiques fran¸caismais dont les recherches ont `agagner d'une confrontation internationale. Les conf´erencesportent sur de nom- breux sujets [26, p. 13], des math´ematiques`ala biologie. Elles attirent d'´eminents scientifiques(5). L'accent mis sur la sp´ecialisationest aussi pr´ecis´epar le petit nombre de participants souhait´es,autour de quelques experts dont un fran¸caiset des jeunes. L'analyse plus pr´ecised'un colloque, celui d'Analyse Harmonique de 1947, va per- mettre de voir comment le C.N.R.S. a mis en œuvre ces diff´erents aspects dans la r´ealisationconcr`etedes colloques, ainsi que les cons´equencesqu'un tel colloque a pu avoir sur la vie math´ematiquede Schwartz. Mais avant cela, nous allons d´efinir (4)En ce qui concerne la volont´ed'organiser des colloques dans des universit´esde province, on constate que c'est bien le cas pour 20 des 55 colloques. Il y a ainsi 5 colloques `aLyon, 4 `aStrasbourg, 3 `a Nancy, 2 `aAlger et Marseille, et 1 `aToulouse, Montpellier, Bordeaux et Grenoble. Tous les autres ont lieu `aParis (dont 1 `aGif-sur-Yvette). (5)Remarquons que le c^ot´einformel n'est pas toujours respect´en´eanmoins; certaines conf´erences attirant tous les prix Nobel de la discipline par exemple. 4 ANNE-SANDRINE PAUMIER plus pr´ecis´ement l'objet colloque ou congr`es , et son investissement par les math´ematiciens. 2. Colloques et math´ematiciens Des premiers congr`esscientifiques aux congr`essp´ecialis´esen math´ematiques. | Le premier Congr`esInternational des Math´ematiciensa lieu `aZurich en 1897(6). Il s'agit d'une conf´erencetr`eslarge, qui s'inscrit dans l'internationalisation des math´ematiques [14], mais qui n'est pas v´eritablement comparable aux colloques internationaux du C.N.R.S. que l'on pr´esente ici. A` l'inverse, l'unit´edu colloque international du C.N.R.S. n'est pas disciplinaire mais institutionnelle et financi`ere(Rockefeller, C.N.R.S.). Elle se trouve aussi dans le lieu (national, France notamment province). La r´egularit´en'est pas pr´ecis´ee, mais un certain nombre de colloques ont lieu chaque ann´ee.
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