Applications d'analyse et de géométrie, qui ont servi de principal fondement au Traité des propriétés projectives des figures. Avec additions par Mannheim et Moutard
Victor Mayer Amédée Mannheim was a French mathematician and educator. He developed the style of a slide rule that would become the standard for over 100 years.
Background
Victor Mayer Amédée Mannheim was born on July 17, 1831, in Paris, Ile-de-France, France to a Jewish family of Sigismond Mannheim and his wife Marianne Speyer. They were of Jewish descent. From an early age, Amédée showed a very strong aptitude for the exact sciences.
Education
From the age of ten years, despite being the youngest in his class, Amédée Mannheim was the only one who could solve the difficult geometry problems proposed by his teacher. After completing the course of study at the Institution Martelet, at the age of sixteen, he was admitted to École centrale. Now although the Institution Martelet was the standard route for pupils going on to the École centrale, nevertheless, Mannheim quickly left the École and, instead, prepared for entering the Grand Écoles at the Lycée Charlemagne. Now going to this College proved to be a very good move since at the Collège de Charlemagne he was taught mathematics by Eugène Catalan. The excellent teaching, guidance, and support that Catalan provided for his young student was an important factor in his mathematical career. In fact, it was during this year at the Collège de Charlemagne that he undertook research on geometry and began publishing papers based on his research.
The summer of 1848 between Mannheim completing his studies at the Lycée Charlemagne and entering university, was a time of revolution in Paris. This must have been an extremely difficult time for the young Mannheim, particularly since his teacher Catalan was involved in the revolution.
Mannheim entered the École Polytechnique in Paris in 1848 at the age of 17, again the youngest student in the course. By that time, he was already publishing papers in the year he began his university studies, with Théorème sur les axes de l'ellipse et de l'hyperbole and Solution géométrique du problème sur l'axe radical both appearing in the Nouvelles annales de mathématiques in 1848. While he was at the École Polytechnique he got to know his fellow student Charles Nicolas Peaucellier (1832-1919) who would later invent mathematical instruments inspired by Mannheim. One of their teachers was Michel Chasles whose lectures on geometry had a major influence on the young student Mannheim. The director of the École Polytechnique for the two years that Mannheim studied there was Jean-Victor Poncelet who, like Chasles, was to have a major influence on Mannheim. Poncelet retired in the year that Mannheim graduated but the two collaborated some years later. After two years studying at the École Polytechnique, Mannheim went to Metz where he attended the École d'Application graduating in 1851.
While still, a student Amédée Mannheim invented a type of slide rule, a modified version of which is still in use. After graduation as a lieutenant, he spent several years at various provincial garrisons. In 1859 he was appointed répétiteur at the École Polytechnique; in 1863, examiner; and in 1864, professor of descriptive geometry. He attained the rank of colonel in the engineering corps, retiring from the army in 1890 and from his teaching post in 1901. He was a dedicated and popular teacher, strongly devoted to the École Polytechnique, and was one of the founders of the Société Amicale des Anciens Élèves de l’École.
Mannheim worked in many branches of geometry. His primary interest was in projective geometry, and he was influenced by Chasles’ work on the polar reciprocal transformation, which he further investigated with respect to metric properties. He applied these studies in his work in kinematic geometry, which he defined as the study of motion, independent of force, time, and any elements outside the moving figure. He also made significant contributions to the theory of surfaces, primarily in regard to Fresnel’s wave surfaces. Most of his results can be found in his texts, Cours de géométrie descriptive de l’ École Polytechnique (1880) and Principes et développements de la géométrie cinématique, (1894), which, although he was an enthusiast for the synthetic method in geometry, contained much differential geometry, as well as a good summary of that subject. In recognition of his contributions to the field of geometry, Mannheim was awarded the Poncelet Prize in 1872.
Membership
Société Amicale des Anciens Élèves de l’École Polytechnique
,
France
London Mathematical Society
,
United Kingdom
French Mathematical Society
,
France
Connections
On 12 August 1868, Amédée Mannheim married Eugénie Adèle Mathilde Oulif (1838-1906). They had two children (and perhaps more), namely Nelly Mannheim and Charles Amédée Mannheim.