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Antoine Augustin Cournot

French economist and mathematician (*1801 – †1877)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ323245
Source-derived summary

Antoine Augustin Cournot (French: [ɑ̃twan oɡystɛ̃ kuʁno]; 28 August 1801 – 31 March 1877) was a French philosopher and mathematician who contributed to the development of economics.

Biography

Antoine Augustin Cournot was born on 28 August 1801 in Gray, Haute-Saône. He entered the preparatory school at Collège de Gray in 1809, where he studied until the age of 15. He later studied at Collège Royal de Besançon.

In 1821 he entered one of the most prestigious Grande école, the École normale supérieure. According to Agnar Sandmo:

in 1823 he took a license degree in mathematics at Sorbonne University. He then became the private secretary of a field marshal who required assistance in writing his memoirs. This position left Cournot with considerable time for his own pursuits. In the course of his ten years in the field marshal's employment he took two doctoral degrees, one in mechanics and one in astronomy. In addition, he published a number of articles and even acquired a degree in law.

Editorial summary

“Antoine Augustin Cournot” enters the record as french economist and mathematician (*1801 – †1877). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Antoine, Augustin and Cournot can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1801, 1877, 1809, 1821—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1801-08-28. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Antoine, Augustin and Cournot.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Antoine Augustin Cournot” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Antoine, Augustin and Cournot provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q323245. VIAF identifies the subject as 22140393. The Library of Congress control number is n50017644. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1801, 1877, 1809 and 1821.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

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  2. Expand the search: follow Antoine Augustin Cournot primary sources, Antoine Augustin Cournot archive and Antoine research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Antoine Augustin Cournot” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.