About the library

At the time of its foundation in 1928,  the library received many donations for its library, including book and manuscripts from the Faculty of Science of the University of Paris, and 138 journals and french  theses after 1850 from Gaston Darboux and Nicolas Goffart.

The library also inherited over six hundred mathematical models, made from plaster, wood, wire and thread. Some of them are exhibited permanently in the library hall. Most of the models  were created by Martin Schilling in Leipzig between 1900 and 1920 and   a few of them  (in wood)  were made between 1912 and 1915 by J. Caron, Professor of Descriptive Geometry.

Pierre Gauja, secretary of the French Academy of Science managed the Library until 1949.  Paul Belgodère took over the management until 1986, and, with the assistance of Denise Lardeux, transformed it into a  large, internationally renowned library. The book holdings grew from 3000 to 23000, and the journals to 250.

The Library possesses publications in Mathematics, Theoretical Physics, History and Philosophy of Science, and a collection of books from  the 17th and 18th century.

It welcomes all researchers in mathematics and physics, from France and abroad, as well as the invited participants of the Centre Emile Borel conferences.

The IHP library is an associated library to the BUPMC, Library of the University Pierre and Marie Curie. It is member also of the RNBM, french national network of mathematical librairies.