Lucien Hibbert: mathematician and statesman (Q6121461)

Lucien Hibbert (1899--1964) was the first Haitian to earn a doctoral degree in mathematics. Despite his remarkable academic career as well as his successes in politics and in higher education administration, his achievements are not well known. Starting with his family roots, his (early) education and the beginning of his political career (he served as Minister of Finance for Haiti from 1932 to 1934 and then as Minister of Foreign Affairs until 1935), the author reports on Hibbert's stay in Paris during the time of his dissertation. Hibbert received his doctorate from the Université de Paris in 1937. His dissertation consisted of two theses. While his principal thesis \textit{Univalence et automorphie pour les polynômes et les fonctions entières} [Bull. Soc. Math. Fr. 66, 81--113, 115--154 (1938; Zbl 0020.14003; JFM 64.0327.01; JFM 64.1064.02)] concerned the ``description of curves with equal modulus and equal argument of a polynomial and its inverse function. He studied their cells of univalence and the role they play in the hypergroups of automorphisms.'' (p. 245), his second thesis \textit{Sur les équations du problème de l'Interdépendance des marchés} [ibid. 69, 1--22 (1941; Zbl 0026.33903; JFM 67.0529.01)] dealt with econometrics. Here, Hibbert introduced two new equations, ``the profit equation and the equation linking profit to production for the final market'' (p. 246). Back in Haiti in 1940 or 1941, he concentrated on higher education administration. He participated in the launching of the \textit{École Normale Supérieure}, the Artibonite Valley project and the founding of the \textit{Institut Français d'Haïti}, to give just a few examples. Hibbert returned to government and politics in the late 1940s and also took over ministerial positions again. Although no longer focused on mathematical research, he was actively involved in the development of statistics in Haiti. He led the National Census Commission, which conducted the first census in Haiti in 1950. He also held the position of the \textit{directeur général} of the \textit{Institut Haïtien de Statistique} twice (1951--1953 and 1954--1958). Hibbert died on February 5, 1964, after a long illness.