Lagrange, "working mathematician" on music considered as a source for science
pp. 65-78
in: Gérard Assayag, Hans G. Feichtinger, José F. Rodrigues (eds), Mathematics and music, Berlin, Springer, 2002Abstract
Permanent secretary to the First class of the French National Institute, which was then a revolutionary replacement for the Academy of Science, Jean-Baptiste Delambre has left an interesting and rather personal portrait of Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813). In the tradition of academic life, the purpose of such an account written in 1813, was less to explain the scientific achievements of a man, than to portray what a great scientist should be1. Delambre then goes as far as telling us a socially bad story about Lagrange. And it concerns Lagrange's taste for music, or better said his misuse of music.