Albert Châtelet (24 October 1883 – 30 June 1960) was a French politician and mathematician.

Biography

Châtelet was a student at the

École normale supérieure (Paris) The ''École normale supérieure - PSL'' (; also known as ''ENS'', ''Normale sup, ''Ulm'' or ''ENS Paris'') is a ''grande école'' university in Paris, France. It is one of the constituent members of Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL). ...

from 1905 to 1908, succeeding to the

Agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

(a highly selective competitive examination for future high-school teachers) in 1908. After earning a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in 1911 and serving first in the health service, then in a ballistic research unit during the First World War, Châtelet became a lecturer at

École centrale de Lille Located in the campus of Science and Technology (Cité Scientifique) of the University of Lille in Villeneuve-d'Ascq ( European Metropolis of Lille - Hauts-de-France); École Centrale de Lille is a renowned graduate engineering school, with roots ...

and in 1920 a professor at

Université de Lille The University of Lille (french: Université de Lille, abbreviated as ULille, UDL or univ-lille) is a French public research university based in Lille, Hauts-de-France. It has its origins in the University of Douai (1559), and resulted from the m ...

, rising to the rank of

vice-chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

by 1924. After thirteen years of chancellorship he was appointed as the director of secondary education by the Ministry of National Education, where he served under

Jean Zay Jean Élie Paul Zay (6 August 1904 – 20 June 1944) was a French politician. He served as Minister of National Education and Fine Arts from 1936 until 1939. He was imprisoned by the Vichy government from August 1940 until he was murdered in 19 ...

until 1940. In 1945 he joined the

Faculty of Science Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument), an instrument or warrant ...

at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, succeeding

Jean Cabannes Jean Cabannes (born 12 August 1885 – died 31 October 1959) was a French physicist specialising in optics. Education and career Cabannes studied at the Lycée de Nice and entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1906. From 1910 to 1914, Caba ...

as its

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

in 1949. After his retirement as dean in 1954, Châtelet began participating in political movements at the forefront of the downfall of the

French Fourth Republic The French Fourth Republic (french: Quatrième république française) was the Republicanism, republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of ...

by joining the Rationalist Union in 1955. In 1958 Albert Châtelet was chosen to represent the Union of Democratic Forces as its candidate during the

French presidential election Presidential elections in France determine who will serve as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra for the French side for the next five years. Until 2002, the elections were held every seven years. They are always held on a Sunday. Si ...

. He earned only 8.4% of the vote, losing out to the

Union of Democrats for the Republic The Union for the Defence of the Republic (french: Union pour la défense de la République), after 1968 renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic (french: Union des Démocrates pour la République), commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullist po ...

candidate

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

. In 1947 Châtelet introduced a concept of normality for relations in

composition series In abstract algebra, a composition series provides a way to break up an algebraic structure, such as a group or a module, into simple pieces. The need for considering composition series in the context of modules arises from the fact that many natura ...

and proved a general theorem similar to

Jordan–Hölder decomposition In abstract algebra, a composition series provides a way to break up an algebraic structure, such as a group or a module, into simple pieces. The need for considering composition series in the context of modules arises from the fact that many nat ...

and

Schreier refinement theorem In mathematics, the Schreier refinement theorem of group theory states that any two subnormal series of subgroups of a given group have equivalent refinements, where two series are equivalent if there is a bijection between their factor groups that ...

. He also wrote "Algebra de relations de congruence". Investigation of

binary relation In mathematics, a binary relation associates elements of one set, called the ''domain'', with elements of another set, called the ''codomain''. A binary relation over Set (mathematics), sets and is a new set of ordered pairs consisting of ele ...

s was further pursued by his student

Jacques Riguet Jacques Riguet (1921 to October 20, 2013) was a French mathematician known for his contributions to algebraic logic and category theory. According to Gunther Schmidt and Thomas Ströhlein, "Alfred Tarski and Jacques Riguet founded the modern calc ...

. Châtelet also did research on number theory and group theory. He introduced the research of

Kurt Hensel Kurt Wilhelm Sebastian Hensel (29 December 1861 – 1 June 1941) was a German mathematician born in Königsberg. Life and career Hensel was born in Königsberg, East Prussia (today Kaliningrad, Russia), the son of Julia (née von Adelson) and lan ...

Helmut Hasse Helmut Hasse (; 25 August 1898 – 26 December 1979) was a German mathematician working in algebraic number theory, known for fundamental contributions to class field theory, the application of ''p''-adic numbers to local class field theory and ...

, and the German school of ''p''-adic number theorists into France. Châtelet edited volume 5 of the collected works of

Henri Poincaré Jules Henri Poincaré ( S: stress final syllable ; 29 April 1854 – 17 July 1912) was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The ...

. In 1920 he gave a plenary address at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Strasbourg: ''Loi de Réciprocité Abélienne''. In 1947 he was the president of the

Société Mathématique de France Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

. A university center in the 5th Arrondissement of Paris and a prize of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

(Albert-Châtelet-Medaille) are named in his honor. One of his sons was the mathematician

François Châtelet François Châtelet (27 April 1925 – 26 December 1985) was a historian of philosophy, political philosophy and professor in the socratic tradition. He was the husband of philosopher Noëlle Châtelet, the sister of Lionel Jospin. Biog ...

, who is not to be confused with the French philosopher of the same name.

References

*
Albert Châtelet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatelet, Albert 1883 births 1960 deaths French educators French mathematicians École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the Lille University of Science and Technology People from Pas-de-Calais Candidates for President of France Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur