Séminaire – Histoire des sciences, histoire du texte

Two themes: Texts and instruments (part I) and Translations (part I)

• Arianna Borrelli (TU Berlin and Bielefeld University)

Performing text: early Latin manuscripts on astrolabe construction (late 10th-11th c.) and their production context

Abstract: In the middle ages a transfer of knowledge in natural philosophy, medicine and the mathematical arts took place from the Islamic-Arabic culture to the Latin-Christian one, as witnessed by manuscripts produced from the early 11th century onward. However, while manuscripts from the 12th century or later contain Latin translations of Arabic treatises, material dating back to the earlier phase of the exchange presents a different picture. These early manuscripts are usually compilations of shorter texts whose exact authorship and provenance remains obscure, although the content, Arabic terminology and Arabic characters show that they result from a process of knowledge transfer. My presentation focuses on some of these early texts, and more precisely on those dealing with the geometric construction (« mensura« ) and uses (« utilitates« ) of the astrolabe, an instrument for astronomical computations of Greek origin present in the Arabic-Islamic sphere at least since the eighth century.

Traditional historiography has interpreted these early, fragmentary texts as partial, poor-quality copies of high-quality translations which are lost. This interpretation has in turn led to the view that Latin scholars of the late 10th and early 11th century did not really understand the contents of the original Arabic texts, and that knowledge about the astrolabe in the Latin-Christian culture only spread thanks to the original Latin treatise by Herman of Reichenau (1013-1054). I will instead argue that those manuscripts are the written traces of an earlier, very productive process of knowledge transfer and appropriation which took place through a combination of written and non-written, verbal and non-verbal strategies of communication involving presentations in Arabic language, exercises and memorization of relevant geometrical constructions, and demonstrations of the workings of the instrument using copies made out of perishable materials. The fragmentary texts and the drawings often accompanying them are products of note taking and reworking and could in turn be used to further disseminate knowledge by reproducing the original presentation. I will discuss various clues that support my interpretation and also hint at the broader epistemic implications of the specific combination of form and content in the process of knowledge assimilation.

• Emmylou Haffner (ITEM, ENS Ulm)

From Dedekind to Hoüel to Dedekind to Hoüel: exchanges on the French translation of Dedekind’s theory of algebraic numbers

Abstract: In 1876, Lipschitz suggested that Dedekind could publish a French version of his theory of algebraic numbers in the Bulletin des sciences mathématiques et astronomiques. As Dedekind felt his French was too rusty to write the entire paper in French, Jules Hoüel was charged to translate it from the original German. For Dedekind, this was not only an occasion to reach a wider audience but also to completely reshape his theory, originally published in 1871 as a Supplement to Lejeune-Dirichlet Vorlesungen über Zahlentheorie. Dedekind’s « Sur la théorie des nombres entiers algébriques » was published in the Bulletin in five parts in 1876 and 1877.
In Dedekind’s Nachlass, one can find a number of manuscripts documenting the exchanges between him and Hoüel about the translation, including parts of the original German manuscripts, letters, and some notes and suggestions by Dedekind on Hoüel’s translation. In this talk, I propose to study some of these back-and-forth between Dedekind and Hoüel, and to highlight the process of terminological fine-tuning in the (two-handed?) genesis of the French translation of Dedekind’s theory of algebraic numbers.

• Marie-Océane Lachaud (Inalco/ IFRAE)

Compiling, Writing and Thinking about Jennerian Vaccination in Chosŏn Korea at the End of the 19th Century

Abstract: In 1880, the lower-ranking official Chi Sŏkyŏng (池錫永, 1855-1935) traveled to Japan as part of the second diplomatic mission sent to the Empire of Japan following the signing of the Treaty of Kanghwa Island (江華島條約, 1876). During his stay, he learnt about Jennerian vaccination (牛痘法) through Japanese physicians and Japanese publications. A few years later, in 1885, Chi Sŏkyŏng published a treatise entitled the Udu shinsŏl(牛痘新說, New Treatise on Vaccination), in which he officially introduced Jennerian vaccination to the Korean public. The Udu shinsŏl would then become the reference for a long series of similar treatises in the following decade ; such as the Cheyŏng shinp’yŏn in 1889 (濟嬰新編, New Compilation to Save Children), the Udu shinp’yŏn in 1892 (牛痘新編, New Compilation on Vaccination) or the Udu p’yŏn in 1893 (牛痘編, Compilation on Vaccination). In this presentation, I propose to discuss these unexplored medical treatises which sometimes deviate from their original source to add earlier references or to create their own structures. This study will allow us to understand how Koreans comprehended this new Western medical technique introduced to Korea in the late 19th century through their textual arrangements.

Lieu : Salle Malevitch 483A bâtiment Condorcet