“Logic and Computing in France: A Late Convergence”

How did mathematical logic interact with computing in the pioneer era ? Was the “Turing machine”, to sum up a common model, a decisive source of inspiration for electronic computers designers ? I tend to consider this model as a founding myth of theoretical computer science, an a posteriori reconstruction, more than an accurate historical account. Based on archival research and oral history interviews, a detailed investigation on the case of France – a mid-size country where computers appeared years later than in Britain and in the USA – suggests rather a late encounter than a filiation process.