Editing Henri Poincaré (section)

===Education===
[[File:Henri Poincaré maison natale Nancy plaque.jpg|thumb|right|200px| Plaque on the birthplace of Henri Poincaré at house number 117 on the Grande Rue in the city of Nancy]]

During his childhood he was seriously ill for a time with [[diphtheria]] and received special instruction from his mother, Eugénie Launois (1830–1897).

In 1862, Henri entered the Lycée in [[Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle|Nancy]] (now renamed the {{ill|Lycée Henri-Poincaré|fr}} in his honour, along with [[Henri Poincaré University]], also in Nancy). He spent eleven years at the Lycée and during this time he proved to be one of the top students in every topic he studied. He excelled in written composition. His mathematics teacher described him as a "monster of mathematics" and he won first prizes in the [[concours général]], a competition between the top pupils from all the Lycées across France. His poorest subjects were music and physical education, where he was described as "average at best".<ref>O'Connor et al., 2002</ref> Poor eyesight and a tendency towards absentmindedness may explain these difficulties.<ref>Carl, 1968</ref> He graduated from the Lycée in 1871 with a [[baccalauréat]] in both letters and sciences.

During the [[Franco-Prussian War]] of 1870, he served alongside his father in the [[Ambulance Corps]].

Poincaré entered the [[École Polytechnique]] as the top qualifier in 1873 and graduated in 1875. There he studied mathematics as a student of [[Charles Hermite]], continuing to excel and publishing his first paper (''Démonstration nouvelle des propriétés de l'indicatrice d'une surface'') in 1874. From November 1875 to June 1878 he studied at the [[École des Mines]], while continuing the study of mathematics in addition to the [[mining engineering]] syllabus, and received the degree of ordinary mining engineer in March 1879.<ref>F. Verhulst</ref>

As a graduate of the École des Mines, he joined the [[Corps des Mines]] as an inspector for the [[Vesoul]] region in northeast France. He was on the scene of a mining disaster at [[Magny-lès-Jussey|Magny]] in August 1879 in which 18 miners died. He carried out the official investigation into the accident.

At the same time, Poincaré was preparing for his [[Doctorate in Science]] in mathematics under the supervision of Charles Hermite. His doctoral thesis was in the field of [[differential equations]]. It was named ''Sur les propriétés des fonctions définies par les équations aux différences partielles''. Poincaré devised a new way of studying the properties of these equations. He not only faced the question of determining the integral of such equations, but also was the first person to study their general geometric properties. He realised that they could be used to model the behaviour of multiple bodies in free motion within the [[Solar System]]. He graduated from the [[University of Paris]] in 1879.

[[Image:Young Poincare.jpg|left|upright|thumb|The young Henri Poincaré in 1887 at the age of 33]]