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Émile Borel
Times obituary
Mathematician and Statesman
Among the many interpreters or critics of Einstein's theories, the best-known French scientist was Dr. Emile Borel, whose death on Friday at the age of 85 was reported by our Paris Correspondent. His career as a mathematician was equalled, if not surpassed, by his career as a politician and statesman
Born at St. Affrique, Aveyron, on January 7, 1871, Felix Édouard Emile Borel was educated at the famous Ecole Normale in Paris. At the early age of 22, he was appointed Professor at Lille University in 1893, and in 1897 he went to the Ecole Normale itself. In 1909 he became Professor of Mathematics at Paris University and—while holding that chair until 1941—Director of the École Normale in 1910. He held that important office until 1920 and, a year later, was made a member of the Académie des Sciences, of which he was to become President in 1934
In the meantime, he had joined the Republican-Socialist Party, the group to which Briand and Painlevé belonged, and was elected deputy for Aveyron in 1924 and for St. Affrique in 1928. He soon became a leader of the party, Minister of Marine under Painlevé in 1925, and vice-president of the Finance Committee of the Chamber in 1933-36. His strong European and international leanings found expression in his serving as president of the French League of Nations Association and of the World League of Nations Union of the French Committee for European Cooperation, as a vice-president of the European Economic and Customs Union, and of the International Council of Scientific Unions when it was formed in 1946. He was furthermore president of the Henri Poincaré Institute and of the Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, an honorary member of the International Institute of Statistics, and the holder of innumerable honours and decorations.
Borel's scientific role relies mainly on his works on infinitesimal calculus and the calculus of probabilities. Best known among his many works are: Le Hasard (1913), L'espace et le temps (1921), and especially the Traité du calcul de probabilité et ses applications (1924–34), and a number of valuable contributions to the knowledge of Einstein's theory of relativity. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1941 by the Nazis, but his intellectual and spiritual faculties remained unbroken, and in 1946, at the age of 75, he produced a searching book, Les paradoxes de l'infini. He was no less impressive as a political writer, thus with La politique républicaine in 1924, and began the struggle for a united Europe, and with unbending optimism continued it for the rest of his life.
Mathematician and Statesman
Among the many interpreters or critics of Einstein's theories, the best-known French scientist was Dr. Emile Borel, whose death on Friday at the age of 85 was reported by our Paris Correspondent. His career as a mathematician was equalled, if not surpassed, by his career as a politician and statesman
Born at St. Affrique, Aveyron, on January 7, 1871, Felix Édouard Emile Borel was educated at the famous Ecole Normale in Paris. At the early age of 22, he was appointed Professor at Lille University in 1893, and in 1897 he went to the Ecole Normale itself. In 1909 he became Professor of Mathematics at Paris University and—while holding that chair until 1941—Director of the École Normale in 1910. He held that important office until 1920 and, a year later, was made a member of the Académie des Sciences, of which he was to become President in 1934
In the meantime, he had joined the Republican-Socialist Party, the group to which Briand and Painlevé belonged, and was elected deputy for Aveyron in 1924 and for St. Affrique in 1928. He soon became a leader of the party, Minister of Marine under Painlevé in 1925, and vice-president of the Finance Committee of the Chamber in 1933-36. His strong European and international leanings found expression in his serving as president of the French League of Nations Association and of the World League of Nations Union of the French Committee for European Cooperation, as a vice-president of the European Economic and Customs Union, and of the International Council of Scientific Unions when it was formed in 1946. He was furthermore president of the Henri Poincaré Institute and of the Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, an honorary member of the International Institute of Statistics, and the holder of innumerable honours and decorations.
Borel's scientific role relies mainly on his works on infinitesimal calculus and the calculus of probabilities. Best known among his many works are: Le Hasard (1913), L'espace et le temps (1921), and especially the Traité du calcul de probabilité et ses applications (1924–34), and a number of valuable contributions to the knowledge of Einstein's theory of relativity. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1941 by the Nazis, but his intellectual and spiritual faculties remained unbroken, and in 1946, at the age of 75, he produced a searching book, Les paradoxes de l'infini. He was no less impressive as a political writer, thus with La politique républicaine in 1924, and began the struggle for a united Europe, and with unbending optimism continued it for the rest of his life.
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