Pierre Bourdin, anti-cartésien ou jésuite ordinaire ? Une étude systématique des thèses des mathématiques du Collège de Clermont (1638-1653)

Résumé En Fr

This paper focuses the mathematical theses written by Pierre Bourdin (1595-1653), professor of mathematics at the Jesuit collège de Clermont in Paris, between 1635 and 1653.In the first part, we show that these theses should be considered as a coherent genre because of some formal characteristics that they have in common. They were public exercises performed during annual ceremonies and aimed at displaying the excellence of Jesuit teaching.In the second part, we show that these theses allowed Bourdin to express his views on contemporary scientific debates. We give three examples to support this claim. First, Bourdin was interested in anamorphosis and made use of a recently discovered optical device called ‘Lens of Faith’. Secondly, in a series of theses written between 1643 and 1647, he criticised Galilean cosmology along with the hypothesis of minima. Finally, by 1647, Bourdin tried to assess the results of Torricelli’s and Pascal’s experiments about vacuum. We conclude that Bourdin’s mathematical theses were used as means to promote mixed mathematics without questioning orthodoxy.In the third and last part, we examine the relation between Bourdin’s theses and his manuscripts, on the one hand, and his printed works, on the other. We establish that there is a continuity between Bourdin’s teaching activities and his main book, the Cours de mathématique (1641).

Pierre Bourdin (1595-1653) commença sa carrière au collège de La Flèche en enseignant la grammaire et les humanités (1618-1623). Il fut ensuite professeur de rhétorique à Rennes (1627), Rouen (1628) et Bourges (1629-1632). Deux ans seulement après son retour à La Flèche (1633), il fut nommé professeur de mathématiques au collège de Clermont : il devait occuper cette fonction pendant presque trente ans, de 1635 à sa mort 1653 1. Il n'est pas complètement inconnu des spécialistes du XVII e siècle. Les historiens de la philosophie voient en lui l'auteur des Septièmes objections 2. De leur côté, certains historiens des mathématiques ont reconstitué sa carrière 3. Finalement, le cours qu'il a consacré à l'architecture militaire et les deux ouvrages posthumes qui en furent tirés sont mentionnés dans des études à la frontière entre histoire de l'architecture et histoire des sciences.