Paul Mentré: A French Mathematician – Engineer in Istanbul in 1926-1928

An Institute of Electro-mechanics was created in 1926 in the Faculty of Science of the Istanbul Darülfünun, with the aim of initiating the teaching of engineering within the Istanbul University. Mechanical-Electrical engineers first graduated in 1929 after having studied in a 3-year programme. Teaching continued until 1935 when the Institute was transferred to the Engineering School, Yüksek Mühendis Mektebi, the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) after 1944. The teaching staff included Turkish teachers along with scholars invited from France in 1926. Among these French professors was Paul Mentré (1889-1936), a mathematician-engineer from Nancy University. Mentré acted as the director of the Institute from 1926 to 1928, and taught courses in applied mechanics (Tatbiki Makine). Although Mentré’s name is mentioned, biographical information does not appear in Turkish publications. The present paper aims to introduce the mathematician-engineer Paul Mentré to the Turkish audience based on his obituary published in France in 1937 and the information kept in Nancy University Archives