Exhibition ’Émile Borel: A Mathematician with a Long and Remarkable Career’
The exhibition titled Émile Borel: A Mathematician with a Long and Remarkable Career will open on Wednesday, 1 April, at the SASA Gallery of Science and Technology, at 6 p.m. The exhibition is organised by the Institut Henri Poincaré, Sorbonne Université – Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and the Mathematical Institute of SASA, a national institute of the Republic of Serbia.
The exhibition is dedicated to Émile Borel (1871–1956), one of the most notable mathematicians of the first half of the 20th century. It will showcase a rich and multilayered intellectual biography of this French scholar. The setup was initially displayed at the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP) in Paris in 2021, marking the centenary of Borel’s election to the French Academy of Sciences.
In Belgrade, the exhibition is organised in cooperation with the IHP and the Mathematical Institute of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It traces Borel’s contributions to mathematics and mathematical physics, as well as his significant role in the popularisation of science, the development of scientific institutions, and the promotion of scientific culture. Particular attention is given to his initiatives in education, scholarly publishing, and the social applications of mathematics.
The setup is supplemented with a selection of panels from the 2018 exhibition, previously displayed at the SASA Gallery. They shed light on the impact the French scientific model had on the development of mathematics in Serbia, primarily through the work of Mihailo Petrović Alas (1868 – 1943), who was Borel’s colleague, friend and correspondent. He was also his host during Borel’s visit to Belgrade in 1934. This segment offers insight into the ways in which French–Serbian scientific cooperation contributed to the modernisation of Serbian mathematics, science, and culture in the early 20th century.
The accompanying programme includes interactive workshops and lectures by distinguished researchers from France, Great Britain, and Portugal, focusing on the scientific work of Émile Borel and Mihajlo Petrović Alas, as well as on the history of game theory and recreational mathematics.
Through the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to discover the human dimension of mathematics and the manners in which it has developed through cooperation, friendships, and intellectual exchange across countries and cultures.
The exhibition will be on view until 29 April and is intended for a broad audience, including high school pupils, students, scholars, and all those interested in the history of mathematics and science, as well as in the history of cultural ties between Serbia and France.