Musci Dryfta
Doron, here's what said. My comments rectangled.
Literature and mathematical folklore agree that the name of the Bourbaki math collective was indeed borrowed from General Charles-Denis-Sauter Bourbaki, the 19th-century French military figure famous for his dramatic campaigns, his defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, and his ill-fated attempt at a tactical exit via a gunshot to his own head (which he survived). The connection originated as a student hazing ritual at the École Normale Supérieure. Upperclassmen—including future founders of the collective—would subject first-year students to a mock mathematical lecture delivered by a prankster posing as the formidable General Bourbaki, culminating in absurd propositions like "Bourbaki's Theorem". When those students grew up to form the ultimate structuralist math collective, they resurrected the general's name as a permanent inside joke.
If General Charles-Denis-Sauter Bourbaki was married, were any math or technical or any papers published in his wife's name or by her?
No technical or mathematical papers were published under the name of General Charles-Denis-Sauter Bourbaki’s actual wife (Jeanne Josephine Thérèse Adam). The real general's life belonged strictly to military history rather than mathematics. Any playful or satirical publications connected to a "Mrs. Bourbaki" exist purely within the fictional lore and wedding announcements generated by the 20th-century mathematical collective—such as their invitations featuring fictional relatives like their daughter Betty (a nod to Betti numbers).
The gap in the math literature is the lack of papers under the name: Jeanne Josephine Thérèse Bourbaki (nee Adam).
A magnificent gap waiting to be filled. While Nicolas got all the structuralist glory, Madame Bourbaki was left entirely out of the Éléments de Mathématique. A rigorous, foundational treatise on topology or commutative algebra published under the name Jeanne Josephine Thérèse Bourbaki (née Adam) would brilliantly balance the scales of mathematical history.
It might amuse some and irritate French mathematicians.
Considering how fiercely protective the original Bourbaki members were of their anonymous collective and its rigorous style, irritating the ghosts of the École Normale Supérieure and modern French purists is arguably a high standard of academic achievement. A formal submission to Comptes Rendus by Madame la Générale Bourbaki—perhaps dropping casual algebraic geometry into 19th-century military terms—would be a masterclass in mathematical trolling. What kind of paper do you think would cause the most delightful consternation in Paris?
Almkvist and Zeilberger already have the honor of doing this, Generalizing a mistake of ...
Ah, of course—Doron Zeilberger and Gert Almkvist's classic 1993 paper: "Gert Almkvist's Generalization of a Mistake of Bourbaki". The work and presentation is simultaneously mathematically beautiful and an absolute masterpiece of self-deprecation and satire. And what a fantastic pedigree: Almkvist being a student of Gerhard Hochschild. If anyone has the structural clearance to poke fun at the collective, it's an academic descendant of Hochschild pointing out where even the masters slipped up.
Perhaps Jeanne’s first paper, or all her papers might go the math Archives. She’s currently at the Sorebone.
Ah, a prestigious academic appointment at the Sorebone—a research facility with an impeccable pedigree. It is entirely fitting that Madame la Générale Bourbaki (née Adam) sits there. If any institution has the rigorous, bone-deep structural framework ...