René Taton (4 April 1915 – 9 August 2004) was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

mathematician,

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...

, and long co-chief-editor of the ''Revue d'histoire des sciences''. He was awarded both the highest lifetime achievement awards in the field of history of science: the

George Sarton Medal The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to a historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifet ...

, in 1975, and the Alexandre Koyré Medal, in 1997.

Life

Taton was born on 4 April 1915 in L'Échelle, France. In 1935, he became a student of

École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud 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 ...

. He was a mathematician before moving to the history of science, and in 1951 cemented the move by earning a ''doctorat d'état ès lettres'' with philosopher

Gaston Bachelard Gaston Bachelard (; ; 27 June 1884 – 16 October 1962) was a French philosopher. He made contributions in the fields of poetics and the philosophy of science. To the latter, he introduced the concepts of ''epistemological obstacle'' and ''Epist ...

as his advisor, focusing on the history of

projective geometry In mathematics, projective geometry is the study of geometric properties that are invariant with respect to projective transformations. This means that, compared to elementary Euclidean geometry, projective geometry has a different setting (''p ...

; his primary thesis concerned the work of

Gaspard Monge Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse (; 9 May 1746 – 28 July 1818) was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, (the mathematical basis of) technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry. Dur ...

and his accessory thesis concerned

Girard Desargues Girard Desargues (; 21 February 1591September 1661) was a French mathematician and engineer, who is considered one of the founders of projective geometry. Desargues' theorem, the Desargues graph, and the crater Desargues on the Moon are named i ...

. He died on 9 August 2004 in

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

, Corsica, France.

Career

Taton was an early participant in

Alexandre Koyré Alexandre Koyré (; ; born Alexandr Vladimirovich (or Volfovich) Koyra; 29 August 1892 – 28 April 1964), also anglicized as Alexander Koyre, was a French philosopher of Russian origin who wrote on the history and philosophy of science. ...

's Centre de Recherches en Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques of the

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conjoi ...

in Paris. He became assistant director in 1958 (when Koyré joined Princeton's

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

) and then full director after Koyré's death in 1964; the Centre was renamed the Centre Alexandre Koyré in 1966. Taton retired in 1983, but continued to work. He was known for being one of the first chief editors, with Suzanne Delorme, of the ''Revue d’histoire des sciences'' (''Journal of history of science''). He led the collective effort to write a ''Histoire generalé des sciences'' (English: ''General History of Science'' (last edition in 1996, PUF, Quadriga); also translated into Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish), a major reference in the field of history of science. Taton became the first secretary general of the Division of History of Science of the

International Union of History and Philosophy of Science The International Union of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology is one of the members of the International Science Council (ISC). It was founded in 1955 by merging the International Union of History of Science (IUHS) and the Internation ...

and served as its president (1975–1978). He was awarded the 1975

for lifetime achievement in the history of science, the

Koyré Medal The International Academy of the History of Science () is a membership organization for historians of science. The Academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by Aldo Mieli, Abel Rey, George Sarton, Henry E. Sigeri ...

in 1997, and the 1997

Kenneth O. May Prize Kenneth O. May Prize and Medal in history of mathematics is an award of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics (ICHM) "for the encouragement and promotion of the history of mathematics internationally". It was established in 19 ...

in the history of mathematics.

Works

* ''To continue the calculus'' (collection of Abbot Moreux), 1945? * ''History of computing'', coll. "What do I know? "1946 * ''Mental arithmetic'', Presses Universitaires de France, coll. "What do I know? " n o 605, Paris. First edition: 1953, 128 p., (notice BnF n o FRBNF326561651 ) . Last Edit: 1979, 126 p., ( ), (notice BnF n o FRBNF34655169f ) . * ''Casualties and accidents of scientific discovery: illustration of some characteristic stages of the evolution of science'', published by Masson et al. "Evolution Science" n o 6, Paris, 1955, 172 p., (notice BnF n o FRBNF32656167q ) . * ''General History of Science'' (1957 to 1964), reissue (1966-1983). * ''Historical Studies of Science'' (collected his 85 th birthday by Danielle Fauque Myriana Ilic and Robert Halleux), Brepols Publishing, coll. "From diversis artibus" n o 47, Turnhout, 2000, 544 p., ( ), (notice BnF n o FRBNF37734558t ) . * ''Later writings'', 2000, compiled by R. Halleux

References

External links

CAPH - Archive Centre of Philosophy, History and Science Edition (USR 3308 CIRPHLES, CNRS / ENS)
Archival work of René Taton. * 1915 births 2004 deaths French historians of mathematics French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers {{France-historian-stub