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However, as will be seen, his was, in fact, a Shakespearian tragic flaw: ‘Vaulting ambition which oerleaps itself / And falls on the other’.1
To portray Dupin, an enigmatic and charismatic character, I have relied very much on his official and private correspondence, reproduced verbatim in the picès justificatives (quotations from and reproductions of original documents), which illustrates his progress from a great scientist, mathematician, and educator to an ambitious politician. His contribution to the history of French social, scientific, and educational development is undeniable. Nothing can diminish his importance as a great man of his time and a subject worthy of study.