Captain mangin-bocquet’s contribution to mathematics

Abstract

In Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 7 (1985), no. 4, Douglas M. Campbell renewed interest in the life of the French mathematician Andr6 Bloch. Having commit ted a triple murder, this first-rank mathematician completed most of his research in a psychiatric hospital. The Mathematical Intelligencer [vol. 10 (1988), no. 1] publ ished a four-page paper by Henr i Cartan and Jacqueline Ferrand on "The Case of Andr~ BlocK" They concluded that "the life of Andr4 Bloch has remained a unique and troubling case, as much in the annals of psychiatry as in the history of mathematics." His b iography and many interesting details can be found in the articles quoted above. Comment ing on the murder drama, D. M. Campbell said, "Someday we may be able to get the French newspaper accounts . . ." ; the second paper stated, "It seems that this painful affair was kept quiet at the t ime and was not reported in the press." At that t ime indeed, even an important newspaper like Le Figaro was often not more than four pages (one large folded sheet). Yet, it closely fol lowed the event, as did Le Journal des De'bats and Paris-Midi. The column below is extracted from the Nov. 18, 1917 issue of Le Figaro. It was longer than the note on President Wilson's congratulat ions to the Nor thwes t States delegates ' war contribution! could foretell the drama of which he would be the unconscious actor. How did the tragic event happen? No one knows. What we did learn was that the lieutenant killed his uncle, his aunt, and his cousin with revolver shots in the living room, where they were quietly having dinner. The madman then attacked the bodies with knife-thrusts. The uncle had signs of about fifty wounds. When he had finished the beating, Lieutenant Bloch surrendered himself to the police station of Plaine-Monceau, asked for Mr Raoul Legrand, superintendent of police, and told him: --Harassed by society with unfair hatred, I just committed justice, I killed them all. Thus he explained his triple murder. Mr. Legrand went to the boulevard de Courcelles and could only verify that the unfortunate had told the truth. Lieutenant Bloch has been imprisoned at Cherche-Midi.