742 AN^NUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1912. 



Autoritat von dieser Zeit"). And just recently one of the most 

 eminent of American astronomers, Prof. Moulton, a member of the 

 National Academy of Sciences of the United States, wrote of him 

 that ''although France had the honor of giving birth to this admir- 

 able man yet he may be regarded as a genius of the whole world. 

 On his tomb should be engraved those words which the Enghsh have 

 put on that of Newton, 'Mortals, congratulate yourselves that so 

 great a man has lived for the honor of the human race.'" 



Wlien, contrary to all precedent, he won such honor among men 

 of judgment the world over before the lapse of a century or two, we 

 may be sure that the work of Poincare was truly great and remarka- 

 ble. But before glancing at that work as with the look of some 

 beetle at a majestic oak, let us dwell for a few moments upon the 

 thoughtful and captivating personahty of this loved master. 



I. THE MAN AND THE SCHOLAR. 



With his ruddy face, his beard turning a little gra}-, and not always 

 geometrically arranged, his shoulders bent as if under the ever 

 present weight of his thoughts, the first impression of Hem-i Poincare 

 was one of singular spirituality and imperious gentleness. But two 

 traits were particularly characteristic in him: His voice, deep and 

 musical and remarkably animated when speaking of problems which 

 greatly moved him, and his eyes, rather small, often agitated by 

 rapid movements, under irregular eyebrows. In his eyes could be 

 read the profound interior life which unceasingly animated his pow- 

 erful brain. His glance was absent and kind, full of thought and 

 penetration, his glasses scarcely veiling its depth and acuteness. 

 His short sightedness, poorly corrected by his glasses, added to his 

 absent look and made one say of him, "He is in the moon." Indeed, 

 he was often very far away. 



Legend began to form about him long before his death and attri- 

 buted to him numerous traits, many of which for half a century 

 have been attributed to Ampere, some erroneous, some indeed true. 



It has been said that he was absent-minded ; absorbed in thought 

 would be more exact. Great thinkers, as well as all who are intense, 

 are slaves of the interior tyrant wliich usurps their souls. When 

 thought assumes control of a man it holds him under its claws as 

 the vulture of Prometheus. The profound visions which possessed 

 the soul of Poincare left him no rest. Often he lost sight of the 

 near at hand objects and the petty things of daily life, for his vision 

 was closely focused on the infinite. It was when he was troubled 

 with the immediate and ordinary things of life, and his judgment 

 was then as sound as in regard to weightier matters, that he was 

 ever really distracted, if we use the word in its true etymological 

 sense. 



