André Sainte-Laguë (, 20 April 1882 – 18 January 1950) was a French
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
who was a pioneer in the area of
graph theory
In mathematics, graph theory is the study of ''graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of '' vertices'' (also called ''nodes'' or ''points'') which are conne ...
.
His research on seat allocation methods (published in 1910) led to one being named after him, the Sainte-Laguë method. Also named after him is the Sainte-Laguë Index for measuring the proportionality of an electoral outcome.
He is also notable for his informal calculation that supposedly demonstrated that a bumblebee could not fly, referred to in the introduction of 'Le Vol des Insectes' (Hermann and Cle, Paris, 1934) by the entomologist
Antoine Magnan
Antoine Magnan (13 June 1881 – 5 March 1938) was a French zoologist and aeronautical engineer who studied the flight of insects and birds for possible lessons to apply to powered flight. He is best known for a remark in his 1934 book ''Le Vol de ...
. This casual calculation was based on a comparison between an aeroplane and a bee, making the wrong assumption that bees' wings were smooth and flat. He, and others, soon corrected this assumption, but the story of the scientist who demonstrated that bee flight was impossible persists to this day.Known math: Bees
He published several popular math texts, including "From the known to the unknown" (foreword by biologist
Jean Rostand
Jean Edmond Cyrus Rostand (30 October 1894, Paris – 4 September 1977, Ville-d'Avray) was a French biologist, historian of science, and philosopher.
Active as an experimental biologist, Rostand became famous for his work as a science writer, as ...
) which has been translated into several languages.
Biography
Born in
Casteljaloux
Casteljaloux (; oc, Castèlgelós) is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France.
See also
*Communes of the Lot-et-Garonne department
The following is a list of the 319 communes of the French department of Lot-et-Gar ...
(
Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne (, oc, Òlt e Garona) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Normale Superieure. He chose the latter and became a professor in the provinces, then in Paris. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, having been wounded three times, he was attached to the Department of Inventions of the Normal School from 1917 to 1919, studied long-range artillery shells, and thereafter, the
flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
of birds and matters relating to aviation (theory test fish).
After the First World War, as a professor in the schools of Paris, he became a lecturer in mathematics at the
Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers
A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...
. Then he received in 1938, the Chair of Applied Mathematics. He trained generations of engineers and technicians. He was the organizer and host of the Mathematics Section of the Palace of Discovery, where his encyclopedic mind is still present.
Besides his academic career, he led a life of an activist, especially the Confederation of Intellectual Workers, of which he was president in 1929. From the earliest days of the occupation, he took an important part in the resistance and was even imprisoned for a while. He resumed his duties at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers after the Liberation and had a growing number of students. At his death he was teaching three courses totaling two thousand five hundred students.
Officer of the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
,
Croix de Guerre
The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...
and
Medal of the Resistance
The Resistance Medal (french: Médaille de la Résistance) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 ...
, a professor at the School of Special Public Works, chairman of the International Confederation Intellectual of Workers, Vice-President of the Confederation of the Middle Class, former president of the Society of Fellows, former vice-president of National Economic Council, former member of the General Council of the Banque de France, former Deputy
Provisional Consultative Assembly
The Provisional Consultative Assembly (french: Assemblée consultative provisoire) was a governmental organ of Free France that operated under the aegis of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) and that represented the resist ...
.(...)
His sudden death came at the very moment he had just accepted the chairmanship of the Committee of the League of Friends of the Psychic Institute, where he was vice president in 1949 and member since 1934. "(R. Warcollier, Vice- President of IMI, January–February–March 1950)