Fatou, Julia, Montel. The Great Prize of mathematical sciences of 1918, and beyond. Transl. from the French (Q621888)

This is an English translation of the French original of 2009 (Zbl 1179.01017). Added is a long, undated letter written by Henri Lebesgue to Elie Cartan (pp. 240--244) comparing the respective mathematical merits of Montel and Julia and favoring the former on the eve of the elections for the French Academy of Sciences (late 1933 or early 1934). Lebesgue makes also interesting remarks about his own priority conflict with Emile Borel with respect to measure theory. Although the mathematicians finally proposed Montel as a member of the Academy, Julia was elected by the majority of members. One of the main arguments of Audin's book, which also goes into the mathematics of complex dynamics created by Julia and Fatou, is that Julia's merits from the First World War, in particular his severe facial wound, played politically in favor of his election in 1934 against Montel as well as in favor of the reception of his mathematical contribution compared to Fatou's results.