The Mathematician who was a Mass Murderer.
Andre Bloch ‘In the North Eastern corner of France lies Besancon. It is near the border with Switzerland and was an important centre for watch making: the industry was wiped out in a matter of years by competition from Japan. Be that as it may, it is also the birthplace of one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the early twentieth century, who was also a multiple murderer and a madman. Andre Bloch (not to be confused by the composer with the same name) was one of the three sons of a Alsatian Jewish watchmaker, one of the many who made Besancon a major center of the watch trade. He was born on the 20 th November 1893 and his younger brother Georges was born less than a year later. Both the brothers were in the same class at the Lycee (secondary school) in Besancon. Both the brothers had considerable mathematical talents and their mathematics teacher Professor Carrus, who taught them for two years ( 1908-9) thought that they should compete to enter the Ecole Polytechn