Problem solved as France opens its first museum dedicated to maths

France's first maths museum, the Maison Poincaré, hopes to draw in 30,000 visitors a year. © Sorbonne Université, Pierre Kitmacher

France's first museum dedicated to the world of mathematics, Maison Poincaré, is the newest addition to Paris's Latin Quarter. The research-based venue, which opened its doors this week, is to be managed by the Sorbonne University.

Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau, Fields Medal winner Cedric Villani and Institut Henri Poincaré director Sylvie Benzoni were on hand to inaugurate the Maison Poincaré, a project 12 years in the making.

"It's a place where you can feel and see mathematics in its various incarnations," Villani, the driving force behind the project, told RFI.

Maths has a very human side that includes imagination and poetry, he added. "This will also be a place where you can meet mathematicians."

The museum is spread over 900 square meters in an historic building adjoining the Institut Henri Poincaré – which had been looking for a bigger home for its research projects.

"As I was doing more and more outreach about mathematics, I was becoming aware of the importance to have a place where you're able to talk about mathematics and to show just how vivid it is," Villani said.

French Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau, centre, cuts a ribbon to inaugurate the Maison Poincaré on 27 September, 2023. © Dhananjay Khadilkar

'Beautiful symbol'

Speaking at its inauguration, Retailleau described the museum as a "beautiful symbol" with the potential to make maths and science for appealing to a larger audience.

"I think we have to enlarge such houses of sciences," Retailleau said.

Maison Poincaré has a permanent exhibition as well as offering a space for temporary exhibitions and workshops for high school students.

The museum explores different fields of mathematics, how they are connected together, and how maths can be used to model different phenomena.

Benzoni, its director, said she hoped teachers would bring children to the Maison Poincaré.

"They can give students projects about mathematics and awake their curioisty as well as help them find pleasure to do mathematics and to understand something that at first seems completely obscure," Benzoni said.

The Maison Poincaré, which aims to attract 30,000 visitors a year, will be open to the public from 30 September.