Editing Augustin-Louis Cauchy (section)

===Engineering days===
After finishing school in 1810, Cauchy accepted a job as a junior engineer in Cherbourg, where Napoleon intended to build a naval base. Here Cauchy stayed for three years, and was assigned the [[Canal de l'Ourcq|Ourcq Canal]] project and the [[Pont de Saint-Cloud|Saint-Cloud Bridge]] project, and worked at the Harbor of Cherbourg.{{sfn|Bruno|Baker|2003|p=66}} Although he had an extremely busy managerial job, he still found time to prepare three mathematical manuscripts, which he submitted to the ''Première Classe'' (First Class) of the [[Institut de France]].{{efn|In the revolutionary years the French Académie des Sciences was known as the "First Class" of the Institut de France.}} Cauchy's first two manuscripts (on [[regular polyhedron|polyhedra]]) were accepted; the third one (on directrices of [[conic sections]]) was rejected.

In September 1812, at 23 years old, Cauchy returned to Paris after becoming ill from overwork.{{sfn|Bruno|Baker|2003|p=66}} Another reason for his return to the capital was that he was losing interest in his engineering job, being more and more attracted to the abstract beauty of mathematics; in Paris, he would have a much better chance to find a mathematics related position. When his health improved in 1813, Cauchy chose not to return to Cherbourg.{{sfn|Bruno|Baker|2003|p=66}} Although he formally kept his engineering position, he was transferred from the payroll of the Ministry of the Marine to the Ministry of the Interior. The next three years Cauchy was mainly on unpaid sick leave; he spent his time fruitfully, working on mathematics (on the related topics of [[symmetric functions]], the [[symmetric group]] and the theory of higher-order algebraic equations). He attempted admission to the First Class of the Institut de France but failed on three different occasions between 1813 and 1815. In 1815 Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, and the newly installed king [[Louis XVIII]] took the restoration in hand. The [[Académie des Sciences]] was re-established in March 1816; [[Lazare Carnot]] and [[Gaspard Monge]] were removed from this academy for political reasons, and the king appointed Cauchy to take the place of one of them. The reaction of Cauchy's peers was harsh; they considered the acceptance of his membership in the academy an outrage, and Cauchy created many enemies in scientific circles.