| Conservatoire
des Arts et Metier :
 A
good place to begin is the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers
on
Boulevard de Sabastopol. The museum contains one of Pascal's
original
adding machines. Near-by are the Archives National. Before
you reach
the Seine you will pass Tour St. Jacques. Inside the tower
there is
a statue of Pascal commemorating his experiments on air pressure.
To the right is the Louvre which contains a Frans Hals portrait
of
Descartes and a Houdin statue of Pascal.
As you cross the Seine at the Pont des Arts you will arrive
at the
Academie des Sciences. Take Rue Bonaparte to the Church of
St. Germain
de Pres. Inside there is a cenotaph dedicated to Descartes.
Follow Boul.
St. Germain to the inn La Procope and have the lunch special
(if its
not dinnertime yet!). In one direction you will find the birthplace
of
Sophie Germain. If you follow Rue M. de Prince to the end,
at No. 54
you will find a plaque commemorating Pascal's (n-1)th domicile.
Now
follow Rue Sufflot to the Pantheon. Spend some time there. Behind
the Pantheon is St. Etienne de Mont, Pascal's church. You will
find
two plaques and a bust inside. Behind the church is 16 Rue
Rollin
where Descartes once lived. Continue past Rue Monge to the
Jardin des
Plants. Inside you will find a statue of its curator, Buffon.
Double
back to Rue Monge and follow it to the Ecole Polytechnique,
the home
of an entire class of 19th Century mathematicians. Nearby is
the
University including College de France, where Roberval taught,
and the
Sorbonne. The University is one of the oldest in Europe and
specialized
in theology and logic.
On
another day you may wish to start out at Port Royal, the refuge
of
Pascal, and walk to the Observatory which is only open to the
public
once a month by appointment. Behind the Place Denfert Rocherau
there
is the Hotel Sophie Germain. Nearby there is a market on Rue
Daguerre.
Walking down this rue you will pass Rue Gassendi and Rue Fermat.
Make a left to Cimetiere de Montparnasse, the burial place
of Poincare.
On the other side of the cimetiere is Rue Huyghens.
If
you visit the Tour Eiffel, you will find several plaques dedicated
to mathematicians. Nearby is 108 Rue de Bac where Laplace resided.
Across the Seine is the Palais de la Decouverte which has exhibits
on
the history of mathematics. Condorcet met his fate at Place
de Concorde.
If you take the train just south of Paris to the suburb of
Acueil,
you will find many commemorations of Laplace. If you want to
see his
birthplace, you need to take a train from Gare St. Lazare to
Pont
L'Eveque. About 7 km away is the small town of Beaumont en
Auge. You
can walk it on a nice day.
The cathedral at Chartes is a living monument to education.
On the West
Portal there are relief personifications of the seven liberal
arts. These
include Pythagoras, Aristotle and Ptolemy. Take time to investigate
the
circular maze inside the cathedral.
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