Bees, they prick curiosity

Too little known by scientists, reduced to a mere translator of Newton or a popularizer of German science philosophy, often even characterized solely as Voltaire's mistress, Émilie du Châtelet was in reality a very great scholar, both mathematician, physicist and philosopher. Her life as a woman of learning in a misogynistic century meant that she did not always benefit from great recognition despite her extensive work. She was nevertheless elected to the Academy of Bologna and her Institutions de Physique were required reading for many scientists, to the point of being regularly cited in the Encyclopédie. Now celebrating a woman who was both a great scientist and also a free and feminist woman!

Bees are now at the center of public debate regarding the importance of their survival for natural balance. They are also fascinating for their unexpected mathematical abilities: they can count up to five and even perform simple operations! This suggests the idea of universality of the simplest mathematical reflexes and allows, in turn, for a better understanding of human phenomena such as learning in children or dyscalculia problems. However, their supposed geometric genius, which we think we perceive through the hexagonal shape of the cells, would not be their doing but attributable to physical laws. Let us go and harvest the mathematical honey of bees!