Beauty and the beast: The strange case of André Bloch (Q1061105)

Beginning with a quick survey of the important work of André Bloch (1893-1948) on conformal mappings, this short article mainly details the various stories and legends on Bloch's incarceration in an insane asylum for murder. Certainly the most important testimony was given by Georges Valiron, who was in 1910 the teacher of the two brothers André and Georges Bloch in the Lycée of Besançon. J. E. Littlewood said, ''Mathematics is a dangerous profession; an appreciable proportion of us go mad''. Bloch's example is a notable one in the history of mathematics because Bloch produced all his mathematical discoveries during his long stay in a lunatic asylum. It shows that insanity may coexist with a rational behaviour of the highest level in a very particular compartment of the mind.