Charles Anne Laisant

Background

Charles Anne Laisant was born on November 1, 1841 in Nantes, France.

Education

Charles Anne Laisant was educated at the École Polytechnique as a military engineer.

Career

Charles Anne Laisant defended the fort of Issy at the siege of Paris, and served in Corsica and in Algeria in 1873. In 1876 he resigned his commission to enter the Chamber as deputy for Nantes in the republican interest, and in 1879 he became director of the Petit Parisien. For alleged libel on General Courtot de Cissey in this paper he was heavily fined. In the Chamber he spoke chiefly on army questions; and was chairman of a commission appointed to consider army legislation, resigning in 1887 on the refusal of the Chamber to sanction the abolition of exemptions of any kind. He then became an adherent of the revisionist policy of General Boulanger and a member of the League of Patriots. He was elected Boulangist deputy for the 18th Parisian arrondissement in 1889. He did not seek re-election in 1893, but devoted himself thenceforward to mathematics, helping to make known in France the theories of Giusto Bellavitis. He was attached to the staff of the Ecole Polytechnique, and in 1903-1904 was president of the French Association for the Advancement of Science.

Achievements

• In addition to his political pamphlets Pourquoi et comment je suis Boulangiste (1887) and L'Anarchie bourgeoisie (1887), he published mathematical works, among them-Introduction d Vétude des uarternions (1881) and Théorie et applications des éguipotlences (1887).