Charles Dupin (1784–1873) and His Influence on France: The Contributions of a Mathematician, Educator, Engineer, and Statesman
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Charles Dupin (1784–1873) and His Influence on France: The Contri ...

Chapter 2:  Dupin’s Background and Family
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he again took up the reins to educate his children. He had enjoyed an excellent education at the Paris Collège Sainte-Barbe, and he applied the methods practised in that highly reputed establishment. He taught them the humanities, of which the Latin authors were the essential ingredient, and the study of the great French writers of the century of Louis XIV. (Baron 1978)

Until the end of 1799, Charles Dupin had received only his parents’ teaching, supplemented by lessons with the Abbé Bougon, the priest of Menou, near Varzy, who had lent his voice in support of the Revolution. The abbé was condemned to deportation in 1798 but saved by Dupin père, who offered him asylum. He was pardoned in 1799 and joined the Dupin household as a tutor.

After the 18 brumaire coup d’état (9 November 1799), Dupin père, a member of the Corps législatif, took his eldest son to Paris, with this same abbé as his mentor. Charles, then aged fifteen, left for Orléans to prepare for the Ecole polytechnique entry examination (for the details of this examination, see Bradley 1974). There was then no baccalauréat, and there were no ‘special’ classes. Charles was to attend the Ecole centrale, one of the departmental schools inspired by d’Estutt de Tracy (1754–1836).7 Their creation was proposed by the député Joseph Lakanal in 1795, and their emphasis was to be on science. In his new school, Charles would be taught by Abbé Louis Genty du Haume (1763–1817), a member of several learned societies. Charles would recall his time there in a speech he gave to the Ionian Academy:

An adolescent, was educated in a public school, far from his family, whom he would not see again. However, the end of the school year brings the award of prizes. Already the magistrates and all that the town can offer in dignitaries are assembled, in the presence of a huge crowd of people. The laurels are distributed. The young student had one, and thought only of his little literary glory, drunk with his first experience of honour and distinction; he receives his prize; he turns round: what does he see? His mother, his good mother, who had made the journey in secret to take pleasure in her son’s happiness … Prizes, laurels, spectators, ah! I forgot them all; pride gave way to nature, I saw