POINCARÉ, La science et l'hypothèse, [v. 1910]

Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) was a French mathematician, physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science, often described as the last universal scientist. A member of the Institut de France, his contributions were fundamental in many fields: function theory, differential equations, topology, special relativity theory (which he developed independently of Einstein), and celestial mechanics. "Science and Hypothesis," first published in 1902, is one of his major works on the philosophy of science. In it, he explores the nature of the fundamental principles of science, the role of mathematics, and the place of hypotheses. This book is a classic of epistemology and remains highly relevant for understanding the foundations of modern scientific thought.