Karen V. H. Parshall" A Parisian Café and Ten Proto-Bourbaki ...

I
1934-35. The loose circle gradually formed a real working
team and later became famous for its rnanyvolumed,
perpetually revise d treatise entltled ÊIéments
de Mathêmatique,a which has been published under the
pseudonym "Nicolas Bourbaki" from 1939 to the present.
The First Meeting and Its Context .
December 70, 19U. At the sacred hour of noon, Capoulade
is filling up. Henri Cartan, Claude Chevalley,
fean Delsarte, Jean Dieudonné, René de Possel, and
André Weil meet----over a lunch of cabbage soup and
grilled meats served with endùtes braisées or Wmmes
" The singular was fâvored over the usual plulal. BouÈaki chose this
title around 1938. The pseudonlan was chosen in the summer of
1935.
soufflées-to exchange views on a new proiect.s Weil
opens the discussion with a general but firm statement
which maps out the perspective. The goal of the venture
will be "to define for 25 years the syllabus for the
certificate in differential and integral calculus by writing,
collectively, a treatise on analysis. Of course, this
treatise will be as modern as possible."6 All are ardently
in favor. The principle of collective writing
makes good sense. Because analysis touches on such
di{ferent specialties, the work of many people will allow
better and more thorough coverage. Delsarte is
particularly insistent on this issue, but he also realizes
that by sharing the writing the group will leave no
" The reports on the meetings, which were used as a prirnary soutce
for this account, are analyzed and described extensively by Liliane
Beaulier lBourbaki. Une histoie du gtoupe de mathélruticiefis fronçik et
(k ses trqLvux, 1934-1944, 2 vols. (Ph.D. dissertation, Université de
MontÉal, 1989)1.
6
Translation by the âuthor.
"Café, grill-room, A. Capoulade," 63 boulevard Saint-Michel, comer of Soufflot, Paris (1934). Until recentlv, this café was
a m€eting Point for the artiets, students, professors, publishers,_and employees who haunted the neighborÉood where the
Sorbonne, Ecole Normale Supérieure, École Polytechnique, École des l\iines, scientific laboratories, and h1cées wete
co,ncenttated, Inside the café, trdo rooms accommodaled pahons for meals and drinks. The basement room wasïften used
for meetings. In the unrestrained atmosphere oI the Latin Quarter and free from the constraints of the university, it served
the needs oI the proto-Bourbakis. Copyright Agence Roger-Viollet, photo Boyet.
28 rrc verruueTlcel TNTELUGENCER vol. rs. No. r. ree3