French Academy of Sciences

The French Academy of Sciences (French: Académie des sciences) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest academies of sciences.

Contents

History

A heroic depiction of the activities of the Academy from 1698

The Academy of Sciences owes its origin to Colbert's plan to create a general academy. He chose a small group of scholars who met on 22 December 1666 in the King's library, and thereafter held twice-weekly working meetings there. The first 30 years of the Academy's existence were relatively informal, since no statutes had as yet been laid down for the institution. In contrast to its British counterpart, the Academy was founded as an organ of government. The Academy was expected to remain apolitical, and to avoid discussion of religious and social issues (Conner, 2005, p. 385)

On 20 January 1699, Louis XIV gave the Company its first rules. The Academy received the name of Royal Academy of Sciences and was installed in the Louvre in Paris. On 8 August 1793, the National Convention abolished all the academies. On 22 August 1795, a National Institute of Sciences and Arts was put in place, bringing together the old academies of the sciences, literature and arts, among them the Académie française and the Académie des sciences. Almost all the old members of the previously abolished Académie were formally re-elected and retook their ancient seats. Among the exceptions was Dominique, comte de Cassini, who refused to take his seat. Membership in the Academy was not restricted to scientists: in 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte was elected a member of the Academy and three years later a president in connection with his Egyptian expedition, which had a scientific component.[1] In 1816, the again renamed Royal Academy of Sciences became autonomous, while forming part of the Institute of France; the head of State became its patron. In the Second Republic, the name returned to Académie des sciences. During this period, the Academy was funded by and accountable to the Ministry of Public Instruction.[2] The Academy came to control French patent laws in the course of the eighteenth century, acting as the liaison of artisans' knowledge to the public domain. As a result, academicians dominated technological activities in France (Conner, 2005, p. 385). The Academy proceedings were published under the name "Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences" (1835–1965). The publications can be found on site of the French National Library in pdf format.

The Academy today

The Institut de France in Paris where the Academy is housed

Today the Academy is one of five academies comprising the Institut de France. Its members are elected for life. Currently there are 150 full members, 300 corresponding members, and 120 foreign associates. They are divided into two scientific groups: the Mathematical and Physical sciences and their applications and the Chemical, Biological, Geological and Medical sciences and their applications.

Permanent secretaries

Mathematical Sciences and then Mathematical Sciences and Physics

Physical Sciences

Chemistry and Biology

Presidents

Treasurers

Members: past and current

For the associated category, see Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences

A : Jacques d'Allonville ~ Antoine d'Abbadie d'Arrast ~ Serge Abiteboul ~ Anatole Abragam ~ Jean le Rond d'Alembert ~ Claude Allègre ~ Christian Amatore ~ Sebastian Amigorena ~Jean-Claude André ~ Jacques Angelier ~ Vladimir Arnol'd ~ Jacques Arsac ~ Philippe Ascher ~ Alain Aspect ~ Ivan Assenmacher ~ Sir Michael Atiyah ~ Thierry Aubin ~ Jean Aubouin ~ Pierre Auger

B : François Baccelli ~ Jean-François Bach ~ George Backus ~ Roger Balian ~ John Ball ~ Gilbert Ballet ~ David Baltimore ~ Neil Bartlett ~ Jean-Marie Basset ~ Étienne-Émile Baulieu ~ Pierre Baux ~ Klaus Bechgaard ~ Alim-Louis Benabid ~ Thomas Brooke Benjamin ~ Christophe Benoist ~ Alain Benoît ~ Henri Benoît ~ Alain Bensoussan ~ Pierre Benveniste ~ Seymour Benzer ~ Paul Berg ~ André Berger ~ Marcel Berger ~ Sune Bergström ~ Jean Bernard ~ Claude Berrou ~ Gérard Berry ~ Erwin Félix Lewy-Bertaut ~ Alain Berthoz ~ Guy Betrand ~ Joseph Bertrand ~ Albert Bijaoui ~ Jean-Paul Binet ~ Jean-Michel Bismut ~ Jacques Blamont ~ Sylvain Blanquet ~ Guy Blaudin de Thé ~ Brebis Bleaney ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen ~ David Blow ~ Joël Bockaert ~ Enrico Bombieri ~ Jean-Louis Bonnemain ~ Jean-Michel Bony ~ Christian Bordé ~ Armand Borel ~ Raoul Bott ~ Claude Bouchiat ~ Marie-Anne Bouchiat ~ Alain-Michel Boudet ~ Jean Bourgain ~ Joseph Boussinesq ~ Joseph Bové ~ Pierre Braunstein ~ Catherine Bréchignac ~ Abraham-Louis Breguet ~ Sydney Brenner ~ Édouard Brézin ~ Haïm Brezis ~ Gérard Bricogne ~ François Bruhat ~ Huy Duong Bui ~ Pierre Buser ~ Louis de Bussy

C : Bernard Cabane ~ Henri Cabannes ~ Michel Caboche ~ Jacques Caen ~ Sébastien Candel ~ Nicole Capitaine ~ André Capron ~ Lennart Carleson ~ Paul Caro ~ Edgardo D. Carosella ~ Alain Carpentier ~ Henri Cartan ~ Bernard Castaing ~ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza ~ André Cauderon ~ Roger Cayrel ~ Anny Cazenave ~ Carlo Cercignani ~ Catherine Cesarsky ~ Marc Chabre ~ William Chaloner ~ Pierre Chambon ~ Christian Champy ~ Jean-Pierre Changeux ~ Marie-Lise Chanin ~ Jean-Antoine Chaptal ~ Patrick, Pierre Charnay ~ Georges Charpak ~ Yves Chauvin ~ Shiing-Shen Chern ~ Gustave Choquet ~ Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat ~ Philippe Ciarlet ~ Paul Clavin ~ Georges Cohen ~ Claude Cohen-Tannoudji ~ Alain Colmerauer ~ Michel Combarnous ~ Charles Combes ~ Claude Combes ~ Françoise Combes ~ Geneviève, Marie Comte-Bellot ~ Nicolas de Condorcet ~ Alain Connes ~ Yves Coppens ~ Robert, Jean-Pierre Corriu ~ Riccardo Cortese ~ Pierre Corvol ~ Suzanne Cory ~ Pascale Cossart ~ Albert Cotton ~ Georges Courtès ~ Charles Augustin Coulomb ~ Francis Crick ~ Hubert Curien ~ François Cuzin

D : Jack Dainty ~ André Dalesme ~ Jean Dalibard ~ Thibault Damour ~ Pierre Darriulat ~ Raymond Daudel ~ Jean Baptiste, Gabriel Dausset ~ Robert Dautray ~ Georges David ~ Roger David ~ Michel Davier ~ Gérard Debreu ~ Claude Aimé Debru ~ Henri Léon Décamps ~ Laurent Degos ~ Stanislas Dehaene ~ Paul René Louis Deheuvels ~ Anne Dejean-Assemat ~ Pierre Dejours ~ Pierre Deligne ~ Michel Delseny ~ Jean-Pierre Demailly ~ Jean-François Denisse ~ Derek Denton ~ Jean-Michel Dercourt ~ Peter Dervan ~ Pierre Deslongchamps ~ Michel Devoret ~ Joseph Leo Doob ~ Adrien Douady ~ Roland Douce ~ Ann Patricia Dowling ~ Michel Duflo ~ Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau ~ Bernard Dujon ~ Catherine Dulac ~ Christian Dumas ~ Michel Durand-Delga ~ Henri Duranton ~ Georges Duvaut ~ Christian de Duve ~ Freeman Dyson

E : Gerald Edelman ~ Stuart Edelstein ~ Sir Samuel Frederick Edwards ~ Manfred Eigen ~ Pierre Encrenaz ~ Daniel Esteve

F : Ludwig Faddeev ~ Anne Fagot-Largeault ~ Michel Fardeau ~ Olivier Faugeras ~ Alexandre, Jean, Auguste Favre ~ Charles François de Cisternay du Fay ~ Pierre Fayet ~ Charles Fehrenbach ~ Noël Felici ~ Gérard Férey ~ Albert Fert ~ Mathias Fink ~ Alain Fischer ~ Jean Flahaut ~ Philippe Flajolet ~ Jean-Marc Fontaine ~ Maurice Fontaine ~ Jean-Paul Grandjean de Fouchy ~ Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet ~ Jacques Friedel ~ Uriel Frisch –

G : Pierre Gabriel ~ Pierre Galle ~ Madeleine Gans ~ Antonio Garcia-Bellido ~ Walter Gehring ~ Israel Gelfand ~ Pierre-Gilles de Gennes ~ Reinhard Genzel ~ Paul Germain ~ Étienne Ghys ~ Martin Gibbs ~ François-Hilaire Gilbert ~ Jean Girard ~ Jean Yves Girard ~ Jacques Glowinski ~ Roland Glowinski ~ André Goffeau ~ Marcel Golay ~ Maurice Goldman ~ John Goodenough ~ Denis Gratias ~ Howard Green ~ Norman Greenwood ~ Mikhail Gromov ~ François Gros ~ Marianne Grunberg-Manago ~ Jean-Pierre Grünfeld ~ Robert Guillaumont ~ Roger Guillemin ~ Philibert Guinier ~ André Guinier ~ Bernard Guinot ~ Irwin Gunsalus ~ John Gurdon

H : Paul Hagenmuller ~ Erwin Hahn ~ Albin Haller ~ Serge Haroche ~ Heisuke Hironaka ~ Friedrich Hirzebruch ~ Jules, Alphonse Hoffmann ~ Gerard 't Hooft ~ Francis Clark Howell ~ Patrick Huerre ~ Gérard Huet ~ Jean-Paul Hurault ~ Christiaan Huygens

I : Jean Ichbiah ~ Jean Iliopoulos ~ Michel Imbert ~ Gérard Iooss ~ Kiyoshi Itō ~ Masao Itō –

J : François Jacob ~ Maurice Jacob ~ Hervé Jacquet ~ André Jaumotte ~ Claude Jaupart ~ Claude Jeanmart ~ Marc Jeannerod ~ Yves Jeannin ~ Denis-Olivier Jérome ~ Georges Jobert ~ Zdenek Johan ~ Pierre Joliot ~ Jacques Joussot-Dubien ~ Michel Jouvet ~ Marc Julia –

K : Fotis Kafatos ~ Henri, Boris Kagan ~ Jean-Pierre Kahane ~ Axel Kahn ~ Gilles Kahn ~ Rudolf Kalman ~ Eric Kandel ~ Daniel Kaplan ~ Pierre Karli ~ Richard Karp ~ Éric Karsenti ~ Masaki Kashiwara ~ Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir ~ Sergiu Klainerman ~ Daniel Kleppner ~ Bernard Kloareg ~ Aaron Klug ~ Paul Knochel ~ Donald Knuth ~ Maxim Kontsevich ~ Henri Korn ~ Jean-Louis Koszul ~ Vladimir Kotlyakov ~ Philippe Kourilsky ~ Jean Kovalevsky – George Frederick Kunz -

L : Antoine Labeyrie ~ Laurent Lafforgue ~ Philippe de La Hire ~ Jean-Yves Lallemand ~ Pierre-Simon Laplace ~ Yves Laporte ~ Jacques Laskar ~ Lucien Laubier ~ Guy Laval ~ Patrick Lavelle ~ Antoine Lavoisier ~ Jean Lavorel ~ Peter Lax ~ Michel Lazdunski ~ Guy Lazorthes ~ Gilles Lebeau ~ Denis Le Bihan ~ Jean-Baptiste Leblond ~ Nicole Le Douarin ~ Gérard Le Fur ~ Adrien-Marie Legendre ~ Jean-Marie Lehn ~ Pierre Lelong ~ Yvon Le Maho ~ Jean-Louis Le Mouël ~ Pierre Léna ~ Gilbert Lenoir ~ Jean-Bernard Le Pecq ~ Jean-Antoine Lepesant ~ Xavier Le Pichon ~ Henri Léridon ~ Marcel Lessieur ~ Hervé Le Treut ~ Pierre Lévêque ~ Claude Lévi ~ Rita Levi-Montalcini ~ Jean-Marc Lhoste ~ Albert Libchaber ~ Amable Liñan ~ Pierre-Louis Lions ~ Jacques Livage ~ Rodolfo Llinas ~ Joseph Lorius ~ Daniel Louvard ~ William Lucas ~ Henry de Lumley-Woodyear ~ Anders Lundberg –

M : Odile Macchi ~ Bernard Mach ~ Bernard Malgrange ~ Edmond Malinvaud ~ Jacques Mallet ~ Paul Malliavin ~ Jean-Louis Mandel ~ Daniel Mansuy ~ Robert Maréchal ~ Charles-Michel Marle ~ Andrée Marquet ~ Ghislain de Marsily ~ Goury Martchouk ~ André Martin ~ François Mathey ~ Michel Mayor ~ Ernst Mayr ~ Gérard Mégie ~ Matthew Meselson ~ Bernard Meunier ~ Dominique Meyer ~ Philippe Meyer ~ Yves Meyer ~ Elliot Meyerowitz ~ Jan Michalski ~ Jean-François Minster ~ Keith Moffatt ~ Roger Monier ~ Gaspard Monge ~ Luc Montagnier ~ Jean Montreuil ~ Dino Moras ~ Philippe Morat ~ René Moreau ~ François Morel ~ William Jason Morgan ~ Leonard Mortenson ~ Vernon Mountcastle ~ Teruaki Mukaiyama ~ Arnold Munnich ~ James Murray –

N : Robert Naquet ~ Louis Nirenberg ~ Yasutomi Nishizuka ~ Maurice Nivat ~ Jean Normant ~ Gustav Nossal ~ Arlette Nougarède ~ Philippe Nozières

O : Satoshi Omura ~ Luis Antonio Oro ~ Gérard Orth ~ Ernst Otten ~ Guy Ourisson ~ Paul Ozenda –

P : Adolphe Pacault ~ Jacob Palis ~ Wolfgang K. H. Panofsky ~ Giorgio Parisi ~ Louis Pasteur ~ Lucio Paternò ~ Renaud Paulian ~ Jean-Claude Pecker ~ Georges Pédro ~ Pedro II of Brazil ~ Marc Pélegrin ~ René Pellat ~ Georges Pelletier ~ Pierre Perrier ~ Christine Petit ~ Michel Petit ~ Richard Peto ~ Emilio Picasso ~ Bernard Picinbono ~ Charles Pilet ~ Olivier Pironneau ~ Gilles Pisier ~ Louis Poinsot ~ Jean-Paul Poirier ~ Alexandre Polyakov ~ Yves Pomeau ~ Pierre Potier ~ Michel Pouchard ~ Robert Pound ~ Jacques Pouysségur ~ Frank Press ~ Alain Prochiantz ~ Jacques Prost ~ Jean-Loup Puget –

Q : Yves Quéré –

R : Michael Rabin ~ Miroslav Radman ~ Jean-Pierre Ramis ~ Norman Ramsey ~ Chintamani Rao ~ André Rassat ~ Auguste Rateau ~ Bernard Raveau ~ Pierre-Arnaud Raviart ~ Michel Raynaud ~ Paul-Henri Rebut ~ Serge Renaudin ~ Pascal Ribéreau-Gayon ~ Jacques Ricard ~ James Rice ~ Alexander Rich ~ Rex Richards ~ Daniel Ricquier ~ Jean Robieux ~ Henri Rochefort ~ Herbert Roesky ~ Michel Rohmer ~ Bernard Roques ~ Jean Rosa ~ Maurice Roseau ~ Jean Rossier ~ Daniel Rouan ~ Emmanuel de Rougé ~ François Rougeon ~ David Ruelle ~ Jacques Ruffié –

S : David Sabatini ~ José-Alain Sahel ~ Jean Salençon ~ Bengt Samuelsson ~ Evariste Sanchez-Palencia ~ Frederick Sanger ~ Philippe Sansonetti ~ Jean-Pierre Sauvage ~ Joseph Sauveur ~ Jean-Michel Savéant ~ Évry Schatzman ~ Knut Schmidt-Nielsen ~ Daniel Schwartz ~ Jean-Charles Schwartz ~ Maxime Schwartz ~ Eugen Seibold ~ Michaël Sela ~ André Sentenac ~ Jean-Pierre Serre ~ Pierre Sigwalt ~ Arndt Simon ~ Pierre Sinaÿ ~ Georges Slodzian ~ Piotr Slonimski ~ Ionel Solomon ~ Susan Solomon ~ Christophe Soulé ~ Erich Spitz ~ Mathias Springer ~ Dominique Stéhelin ~ Raymond Stora ~ Gilbert Stork ~ Pierre Suquet –

T : Michel Talagrand ~ Paul Tapponnier ~ Philippe Taquet ~ Jean-Marie Tarascon ~ Andrzej K. Tarkowski ~ Luc Tartar ~ John Tate ~ Valentine Teledgi ~ Roger Temam ~ Guy Blaudin de Thé ~ Michel Thellier ~ Mathieu Tillet ~ Pierre Tiollais ~ Jean François Marie Tirouflet ~ Bernard Tissot ~ Jacques Tits ~ Gérard Toulouse ~ Roland Tricot ~ Rudolf Trümpy ~ Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus ~ Maurice Tubiana

V : Constantin Vago ~ Alain-Jacques Valleron ~ Gabriele Veneziano ~ Michèle Vergne ~ Jacques Villain ~ Jean-Didier Vincent –

W : Zhen-Yi Wang ~ Pierre Weiss ~ Jean Weissenbach ~ Wendelin Werner ~ Éric Westhof ~ Andrew Wiles ~ Edward Witten ~ Gérard Wlérick ~ Élie Wollman ~ Lodewijk Woltjer ~ Kurt Wüthrich –

Y : Moshe Yaniv ~ Jean-Christophe Yoccoz ~ Marc Yor –

Z : André Zaoui

Notes

  1. ↑ Alder, Ken (2002), The Measure of All Things - The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error that Transformed the World, The Free Press, ISBN 074321675X 
  2. ↑ Crosland 1992

References

  • Crosland, Maurice P. (1992), Science Under Control: The French Academy of Sciences, 1795-1914., Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052152475X 
  • Stroup, Alice (1987), Royal Funding of the Parisian Académie Royale Des Sciences During the 1690s, DIANE Publishing, ISBN 0871697742 
  • Sturdy, David J. (1995), Science and Social Status: The Members of the Academie Des Sciences 1666-1750, Boydell & Brewer, ISBN 085115395X 

External links