Les mathématiques à l'Académie Royale d'Architecture dans la seconde moitié du XVIII^e siècle

While mathematics were at the center of the teachings in the Académie Royale d'Architecture from its foundation in 1671, the historiography of the history of the teaching of the sciences in France during the modern period almost never mentions the role of this institution in the dissemination of mathematical knowledge. The analysis of the aspect of two holders of the chair of mathematics in the Ecole de l'Académie, Charles-Etienne-Louis Camus and Antoine-Rémi Mauduit, of the contents of their teachings, and of their place in the world of mathematics in the France of the Enlightenment reveals an ever increasing divorce between two concepts of architectural education: one emphasizing erudite mathematical knowledge; and one leaving this knowledge to engineers, in order to concentrate on the rendering of an increasingly sophisticated program. The nomination of Mauduit, after the death of Camus in 1768, thus fixed the abandon of a certain scientific ambition at the center of the Académie d'Architecture, to the advantage of the engineering schools, a situation consecrated by the French Revolution, and which still weighs on the education of our architects.