If one opens today a textbook on fluid mechanics, it seems that whereas French scientists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are frequently mentioned, those from more recent times occur rarely; in particular, French contributions to the major breakthroughs of the first half of the twentieth century (boundary layers and turbulence) would appear quite modest. However, study of contemporary documents (PhD theses, journals, correspondence, etc.) reveals remarkable work undertaken by outstanding personalities. A key instigator of these achievements was the French Air Ministry, which, starting in 1929, and with great open-mindedness, created and generously financed four Institutes of Fluid Mechanics and five teaching centers in faculties of science. This reveals the 1930s in their true light as a fruitful decade, with achievements that explain the prominent role played by France in the creation of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) in 1946. This review recounts the story of fluid mechanics in France, with emphasis on the connection between scientific questions and social and cultural issues, in a period marked by two world wars and great strengthening of international relationships.

中文翻译：

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20世纪上半叶法国的流体力学

如果今天打开一本流体力学教科书，似乎经常会提到十八、十九世纪的法国科学家，而近代的科学家却很少出现；特别是，法国对二十世纪上半叶的重大突破（边界层和湍流）的贡献显得相当有限。然而，对当代文献（博士论文、期刊、信件等）的研究揭示了杰出人物所做的非凡工作。这些成就的关键推动者是法国空军部，该部从 1929 年开始，以极大的开放态度，创建并慷慨资助了四个流体力学研究所和五个理学院教学中心。这真实地揭示了 20 世纪 30 年代是一个硕果累累的十年，其成就解释了法国在 1946 年创建国际理论与应用力学联合会 (IUTAM) 过程中所发挥的突出作用。这篇评论讲述了 2019 年流体力学的故事在两次世界大战和国际关系大力加强的时期，法国强调科学问题与社会和文化问题之间的联系。