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 – PSL (; also known as ENS, , Ulm or ENS Paris) is a ''grande école'' in Paris, France. It is one of the constituent members of Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL). Due to its selectivity, historical role, and influence within F ...

from 1905 to 1908, succeeding to the

Agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

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

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

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 École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

and in 1920 a professor at Université de Lille, rising to the rank of

vice-chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

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 at the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, succeeding Jean Cabannes as its dean 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 () was the republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution of 13 October 1946. Essentially a reestablishment and continuation of the French Third R ...

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. 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 ( ), after 1968 renamed Union of Democrats for the Republic ( ), commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullism, Gaullist List of political parties in France, political party of France that existed from 1967 to ...

candidate

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

. 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 na ...

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 na ...

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 tha ...

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

binary relation In mathematics, a binary relation associates some elements of one Set (mathematics), set called the ''domain'' with some elements of another set called the ''codomain''. Precisely, a binary relation over sets X and Y is a set of ordered pairs ...

s was further pursued by his student Jacques Riguet. 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, Province of Prussia (today Kaliningrad, Russia), the son of Julia (née von Adelson ...

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 (, ; ; 29 April 185417 July 1912) was a French mathematician, Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosophy of science, philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathemati ...

. 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 Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as 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 S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

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

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

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

François Châtelet Michel François Jacques Châtelet (; April 27, 1925 – December 26, 1985) was a historian of philosophy and political philosophy, philosopher and professor in the socratic tradition. He was the husband of philosopher Noëlle Châtelet. Châ ...

, 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 Officers of the Legion of Honour