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15
Strokes
to the portrait
In 1792, the post of Minister of the Navy of the Republic of France was taken by a man now known mainly for his work in geometry. His name was Gaspard Monge.
Having taken office, he began by ordering naval officers who came to Paris on business to lodge in the ministry building. The authorities of all French seaports were warned about this. As a result, the minister, while taking care of his subordinates, at the same time knew everything that was happening on the maritime borders of France.
And here is how teacher Monge worked many years later. When his penetrating gaze noticed a student on the most separate benches of the audience, who had become despondent, either from the difficulty of the subject, or from laziness, Monge immediately began to repeat his reasoning, changing the words and order in them. If this did not bring success, the teacher dismissed all the students, with the exception of the one who bothered him, sat next to him and gave a lecture only to him. Monge always introduced such a “personal” lecture with the phrase: “I, my friend, will teach repetition from the point at which you stopped understanding me.”
Monge had a lot of general knowledge in other areas of science. After he resigned from the post of minister, it turned out that the resource officer was in dire need of ammunition - there was not enough gunpowder. To make it you needed saltpeter. Before the revolution, France received it from India, the route to which was now cut off. The Committee of Public Safety turned to scientists for help and advice.
This may seem surprising, but it was not chemists who found the solution, but… the mathematician Monge. He stated: “Saltpeter is obtained in French soil, in stables, cellars and cemeteries. You can’t even imagine how much there is there. We’ll get plenty of saltpeter and in three days we’ll load all the guns with gunpowder.”
At first they didn’t believe Monge, only skeltical smiles. But they still listened to his arguments. Day and night, old people, children and women fished in the ground and in a matter of days, sufficient quantities of saltpeter arrived at the gunpowder factories.
But perhaps Monge’s most defining characteristic was his modesty. This is the preface he provided to his youthful work: “I am sure that ideas often remain free in the hands of ordinary people, and skilled mathematicians extract a greater role from them. For this reason, I am transferring my research to the Turia Academy.” Among those who became acquainted with this work was a mathematician with the world name Lagrange. And he wrote about the young Monge: “This shooter with his “origin of surfaces” is heading towards immortality.”
V.B.