Charles Hermite’s stroll through the Galois fields
Although everything seems to oppose the two mathematicians, Charles Hermite’s role was crucial in the study and diffusion of Évariste Galois’s results in France during the second half of the nineteenth century. The present article examines that part of Hermite’s work explicitly linked to Galois, the reduction of modular equations in particular. It shows how Hermite’s mathematical convictions—concerning effectiveness or the unity of algebra, analysis and arithmetic—shaped his interpretation of Galois...