Galois Got his Gun

TL;DR

This paper explores how the historical figure of Galois has been used to shape public perceptions of mathematics, highlighting authority roles and boundary-works in various discourses.

Contribution

It analyzes the social and historical boundaries constructed around Galois's figure and their implications for understanding mathematics' public and academic identities.

Findings

Galois's figure has been used to draw boundaries between mathematics and the public.

Authority figures like Picard and Jordan influenced public perceptions of Galois.

Public discourses reflect tensions between academic legitimacy and popular narratives.

Abstract

This paper appeals to the figure of \'Evariste Galois for investigating the gates between mathematics and their "publics." The figure of Galois draws some lines of/within mathematics for/from the outside of mathematics and these lines in turn sketch the silhouette of Galois as a historical figure. The present paper especially investigates the collective categories that have been used in various types of public discourses on Galois's work (e.g. equations, groups, algebra, analysis, France, Germany etc.). In a way, this paper aims at shedding light on the boundaries some individuals drew by getting Galois his gun. It is our aim to highlight the roles of authority some individuals (such as as Picard) took on in regard with the public figure of Galois as well as the roles such authorities assigned to other individuals (such as the mediating role assigned to Jordan as a mediator between Galois's "ideas" and the public). The boundary-works involved by most public references to Galois have underlying them a long-term tension between academic and public legitimacies in the definition of some models for mathematical lives (or mathematics personae)