Maurice Potron and his times: state, catholicism and economic modelling

Maurice Potron (1872-1942) is a French Jesuit and a talented mathematician. A recent rediscovery of his economic model, which was left unnoticed in his times, lets Potron appear as a pioneer, both for the framework he conceived and the mathematical methods he used. Moreover, there are hints that his model was inspired by the social doctrine of the Church, as modernized by the encyclical Rerum Novarum. The present study on Potron’s life shows that his family and himself, who lived in a time of tensions between the Church and the French Republic, were involved in the new forms of action inspired by or following the encyclical. The biography follows the steps of the rediscovery of his works.