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Historiographie De Paul Tannery Et Receptions De Son Œuvre: Sur L'invention Du Metier D'historien Des Sciences

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Historiographie De Paul Tannery Et Receptions De Son Œuvre: Sur L'invention Du Metier D'historien Des Sciences Historiographie de Paul Tannery et receptions de son œuvre : sur l’invention du metier d’historien des sciences François Pineau To cite this version: François Pineau. Historiographie de Paul Tannery et receptions de son œuvre : sur l’invention du metier d’historien des sciences. Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences. Université de Nantes, 2010. Français. NNT : 2010NANT2076. tel-00726388 HAL Id: tel-00726388 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00726388 Submitted on 29 Aug 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNIVERSITÉ DE NANTES UFR SCIENCES ET TECHNIQUES _____ ECOLE DOCTORALE SOCIETES, CULTURES, ECHANGES Année 2010 N° attribué par la bibliothèque Historiographie de Paul Tannery et réceptions de son œuvre : sur l'invention du métier d'historien des sciences ___________ THÈSE DE DOCTORAT Discipline : Épistémologie et Histoire des sciences et des techniques Présentée et soutenue publiquement par François PINEAU Le 11 décembre 2010, devant le jury ci-dessous Rapporteurs : M. Eberhard KNOBLOCH, Professeur, Berlin Mme Jeanne PEIFFER, Directeur de recherche CNRS, Paris Examinateurs : M. Anastasios BRENNER, Professeur, Montpellier M. Bernard VITRAC, Directeur de recherche CNRS, Paris Co-directeurs de thèse : Mme Évelyne BARBIN, Professeur, Nantes M. Jean-Yves BORIAUD, Professeur, Nantes Remerciements Je tiens tout d’abord à remercier ma directrice de cette thèse, le Professeur Évelyne Barbin, pour la confiance qu’elle m’a accordée dès 2006 en appuyant ma demande de financement sans lequel ce projet de thèse n’aurait pu avoir lieu ; pour la bienveillance ensuite et la patience qu’elle m’a manifestées au cours des quatre années : ses nombreuses relectures m’ont permis sans cesse d’affiner mon propos ; enfin pour m’avoir invité à par- ticiper à des groupes de travail, et offert l’opportunité de donner mes premiers cours d’histoire des sciences. Qu’elle trouve dans cette thèse, l’expression de ma plus sincère gratitude. Mes remerciements vont également à M. Jean-Yves Boriaud, pour avoir accepté de prendre la co-direction de cette thèse ; pour les échanges stimulants que nous avons pu avoir au cours de ces quatre années, et encore pour ses suggestions de lecture avisées, dans le domaine de la philologie classique où j’étais parfaitement béotien en entamant ce projet. Je suis très sensible à la présence dans le Jury chargé d’évaluer cette thèse, de Mme Jeanne Peiffer et M. Eberhard Knobloch qui ont accepté la charge de rapporteurs de cette thèse, mais aussi de M. Bernard Vitrac, M. Anastasios Brenner, avec lesquels j’ai eu l’occasion de plusieurs échanges riches pendant la préparation de cette thèse. Ma gratitude va encore à M. Stéphane Tirard, directeur du Centre François Viète, pour m’avoir accueilli chaleureusement au sein de son équipe ; pour m’avoir offert la responsabilité de maintenir le site internet du laboratoire, et encore invité à porter ma candidature au Conseil de laboratoire. Merci aussi à l’ensemble des membres Centre François Viète, aussi bien pour les dis- cussions amicales que j’ai eu la chance d’avoir avec eux, que pour les suggestions dont ils ont pu me faire part, ne serait-ce qu’indirectement au cours d’une conférence. Je leur exprime ma profonde sympathie. Je clos enfin ces remerciements en dédiant cette thèse de doctorat à mes parents Antoine et Édith Pineau qui ont été mon premier soutien ; mais aussi à ma compagne i Remerciements Pauline Briau et à notre fils Charlélie, qui ont dû partager le quotidien de ce projet et ont su m’encouragé dans les périodes fastes comme dans les moments de doute. Cette thèse n’aurait pas vu le jour sans eux. Qu’elle soit aussi la leur. ii Table des matières Remerciements i Table des matières iii Introduction générale 1 Genèse d’un Projet . 1 État de la question et bibliographie . 3 Enjeux, méthodes et plan de la présente thèse . 7 Première partie 13 Préambule 13 1 Une approche biographique de Paul Tannery 15 1.1 Jeunesse et premières influences . 19 1.1.1 Un milieu familial cultivé et conservateur . 19 1.1.2 De la formation d’un ingénieur, ou entre raison des sciences et passion des lettres . 22 Du lycée : contre la Bifurcation .................... 22 Les Manufactures de l’État, un choix raisonnable . 24 1.1.3 Des influences du lycée et de Polytechnique . 25 Lachelier, inspiration ou raccourci historique opportun . 25 Des relations intellectuelles limitées avec le milieu polytechnicien . 26 1.1.4 Deux épées et un sabre pour un ingénieur patriote au service de l’État 27 1.2 De manufactures en manuscrits. L’odyssée française d’un ingénieur historien . 29 1.2.1 De l’émulation intellectuelle bordelaise . 31 iii Table des matières Le salon du docteur Armaingaud . 31 La société des sciences physiques et naturelles de Bordeaux . 33 Juvenilia et journaux . 34 1.2.2 Essais havrais . 34 À La rencontre des érudits d’Outre-Rhin . 35 L’édition de Diophante d’Alexandrie. Des premiers jalons à l’entremise de Fermat . 39 1.2.3 De Paris à Paris, via l’Aquitaine . 44 Autour de l’édition de Diophante . 45 Autour de la publication des Œuvres de Fermat ........... 46 Le voyage scientifique, érudition et socialisation . 48 L’Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques, ou des relations avec les érudits français . 49 Un cours libre à la Sorbonne . 50 1.3 D’ecdotique et de didactique, les années 1890 . 51 1.3.1 La triade Diophante-Fermat-Descartes . 51 Un Diophante pour la France. publié en Allemagne . 51 Des Œuvres de Fermat aux Œuvres de Descartes .......... 53 1.3.2 Enseignement et transmission de savoirs . 55 1.3.3 Autour des sociabilités . 56 Collaborations érudites . 56 Des sociétés savantes . 57 1.4 Une fin au parfum d’inachevé . 58 1.4.1 Des premiers Congrès internationaux d’histoire des sciences et des tentatives de structuration internationale . 59 1.4.2 La chaire du Collège de France . 62 Autour de l’éviction de Tannery . 63 Sur les raisons de candidature de Tannery . 65 Épilogue . 67 2 L’historiographie de Tannery. Une approche bibliographique 69 iv Table des matières 2.1 Éditeurs et journaux. Des supports de publication empruntés par Tannery 70 2.1.1 Les contraintes d’un espace éditorial réduit . 71 Une étude de cas. Les journaux savants dédiés à l’histoire des ma- thématiques . 73 Les historiens des sciences et la presse savante . 77 2.1.2 La recherche de voies de publication pour l’histoire des sciences . 78 De la prépondérance manifeste de deux journaux . 79 Ouvrir toujours de nouveaux créneaux (1) . 81 La Revue philosophique de la France et de l’étranger et Gustave Ribot. Les recueils dédiés à la philosophie . 83 Le Bulletin des sciences mathématiques, les Mémoires de la Société des sciences physiques et naturelles de Bordeaux et Jules Houël ............................. 88 Ouvrir toujours de nouveaux créneaux (2) . 91 Les revues pour une première perspective sur l’itinéraire épistémo- logique de Tannery . 93 2.2 Une vie, une œuvre ? Ou de l’historien à son œuvre . 96 2.2.1 Des premiers posthumes . 97 2.2.2 Les Mémoires scientifiques, 1912-1950 . 98 2.2.3 Post scriptum : des manuscrits et de la bibliothèque personnelle de Tannery . 102 De la recherche des manuscrits. 102 . .à l’exhumation de la bibliothèque personnelle de Tannery . 105 3 La mise en œuvre des écrits de Tannery 109 3.1 De l’idée d’une œuvre de Tannery. Zeuthen et Rivaud . 112 3.2 Deux lectures de l’œuvre de Tannery. Zeuthen ou Rivaud . 117 3.2.1 Zeuthen, l’arithmétique, l’algèbre grecque. et Tannery . 119 Un premier niveau de lecture . 119 Reconstituer l’horizon d’attente de Zeuthen . 122 3.2.2 De Zeuthen à Rivaud. Lire Pour l’Histoire de la Science hellène . 130 3.2.3 Rivaud. Tannery et l’histoire de la géométrie grecque . 132 v Table des matières 3.2.4 Conclusion . 135 3.3 Un pacte historiographique : l’histoire comme restitution . 137 Deuxième partie 141 Préambule 141 4 Lire et restituer. Tannery et l’érudition allemande 147 4.1 1880, l’Éducation platonicienne. Un bilan, des perspectives . 150 4.1.1 Perspectives pour une restitution de la logistique ancienne . 156 4.1.2 La géométrie ancienne et la question des incommensurables . 161 4.1.3 La question cosmologique : de Platon aux penseurs antésocratiques 169 4.1.4 Conclusion . 173 4.2 Trois questions de restitutions dans la première moitié des années 1880 . 174 4.2.1 Le calcul des racines dans l’Antiquité . 175 4.2.2 La géométrie ancienne . 179 4.2.3 Les physiologues et la science hellène . 185 De la philosophie antésocratique à la science des physiologues . 187 Thalès à la lumière de l’égyptologie . 191 La thèse des physiologues . 194 Science hellène et science moderne . 204 4.3 Épilogue : « Le vrai problème de l’histoire des mathématiques anciennes » 209 5 Éditer, traduire, commenter. Restituer un texte mathématique antique 213 5.1 Diophante dans les années 1880. De la nécessité d’une nouvelle édition . 219 5.1.1 Diophante et la question de l’algèbre grecque . 220 5.1.2 Une vieille editio princeps .......................222 5.1.3 Les notations de Diophante. Bachet en question .
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