2012

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Deuxième niveau

Presentation of the French

Académie des sciences

The Académie française (1635 - Richelieu)

The Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (1663 - Colbert)

The Académie des beaux-arts founded in 1816 by the union of the Académie de peinture et sculpture (1648) and the Académie d’architecture (1671)

The Académie des sciences morales et politiques (1795)

The Académie des sciences, founded by Colbert in 1666, is one

of the five Academies of the Institut de France with:

The Institut de France has been located in the ancient Collège des

Quatre-Nations since 1805.

Cardinal Mazarin, Prime Minister under King Louis the XIVth, founded the Collège des Quatre-Nations, for the instruction of young men from four recently conquered provinces. Facing the Louvre, it included a chapel, a college and a library.

Collège des Quatre-NationsPalais de l’Institut de France

Mazarin decided that this

library should be open to

the public: this is why its

magnificent treasures

and precious books were

not destroyed during the

French Revolution.

Palais de l’Institut de France Mazarine Library

The chapel (architect: Le

Vau), initially planned for

the tomb of Mazarin, was

transformed and is now

used for the séances

solennelles of each

Académie.

Palais de l’Institut de France The Chapel

During the XVIIth century, scientists

circled around a scholar or a patron. It

is in this context that Colbert, Prime

Minister under Louis the XIVth, officially

founded the Académie des sciences.

Thirty years later, in 1699, King Louis

the XIVth gave it the name of Académie

royale des sciences and established its

first administrative rules.

History (1)

Just after the French Revolution, the

Académies were suppressed. In 1795

they were reborn but were gathered in

the Institut national des sciences et

des lettres.

In 1816, the Académie des sciences

regained its autonomy within the

Institut de France.

History (2)

The administrative rules of the Académie des sciences have

varied through the centuries.

The last decree is dated January 2003: it increases the number of

Members and especially of those less than 55 years old.

In 2011, the Académie des sciences includes:

250 Members 100 Corresponding Members 140 Foreign Associates

Today (1)

Division 1: Mathematical and physical sciences and their applications

(‘Mathematics’, ‘Physics’, ‘Mechanics and Informatics’, ‘Sciences of the

Universe’);

Division 2: Chemical, natural, biological and medical sciences and their

applications (‘Chemistry’, ‘Molecular and Cellular Biology, Genomics’,

‘Integrative Biology’, ‘Human Biology and Medical Sciences’);

An inter-section, ‘Applied sciences’, brings together Academicians directly

concerned with scientific applications.

Today (2)

The Académie des sciences comprises 2 divisions, each subdivided

into 4 sections:

Statutory bodies

General Assembly(all Members)

Executive Committee Administrative Commission 3 Delegations (Departments)Foreign Affairs Scientific Information and CommunicationEducation

BoardPresident: A. Carpentier

Vice-President: P. Taquet

Permanent Secretaries: J.-F. Bach et C. Bréchignac

General Assembly(All Members)

Adoption of recommendations Awarding of prizes Organization of public conferences and colloquia Publications Teaching science at school Defense of scientists who are victims of violations of human

rights

The missions

The Académie des sciences contributes to the progress of sciences

and their applications

The missions (1)

Publications: Recommendations The Académie, upon governmental referral or on its own initiative, has published

recommendations on various subjects (research on stem cells, problems of the

environment and sustainable development, European space policy, Structure of

French research, Science teaching…).

The latest recommendations deal on the proper use of bibliometrics to evaluate

individual researchers (January 2011), the training of professors teaching science at

primary school, secondary school, and high school (November 2010), and the Reform

of the secondary school (November 2010).

The Académie has been one of the signatories of the G8 statements since 2005.

The missions (2)

Publications: Comptes rendus The Comptes rendus (Proceedings), created

in 1835 by Arago, are a bilingual journal.

There are 7 series: Mathematique,

Physique, Mecanique, Chimie, Geoscience,

Palevol and Biologies.

The articles can be viewed on the

sciencedirect website.

The missions (3)

Publications: ReportsThe latest reports are:

"Demography, climate and world food« 

"Metallurgy" "Climate Change" Interim Report by ad hoc working

party of the Académie des sciences Solidarity Japan

The missions (4)

La Lettre de l’Académie des sciences

La Lettre: a thematic quarterly journal, which

comprises reviews written mostly by

Academicians.

Many of the themes are related to recently

published reports or colloquia organized by the

Académie. Among the topics: Stem cells and

cellular therapy, Crystals, The greenhouse effect,

Plants, The brain, The paleontology, History and

philosophy of sciences, The earth, Infectious

diseases, Science and the Third World, The

informatic tool, Regenerative cell therapy, Climate

changes, Ocean-Continent transition.

The missions (5)

Conferences Public conferences are organised each

Tuesday.

Some conferences are organised with other Academies (medicine, agriculture, technology, foreign Academies).

A cycle of conferences “Scientific challenges

of the XXIst century” was introduced in 2004.

5 to 6 international colloquia are organized

each year.

The missions (6)

Awards

Encouraging scientists has been an important activity of the Académie since the XVIIIth century.

Each year, the prizes are distributed during an Award Ceremony under the Coupole.

The most prestigious prize is the Grande Médaille d’or (in 2011, awarded to Avelino Corma; in 2010, awarded to Michael F. Atiyah; in 2009, to Robert Weinberg; in 2008, to Susan Solomon; in 2007 to Tomas Hökfelt...).

The Académie is involved in international Awards, such as the Lounsbery Award or the Descartes-Huygens Prize.

The missions (7)

Foreign affairsThe Department of foreign affairs (DRI) was created in

1980. Guy Laval has been the Head since January 2008.

The DRI implements agreements with foreign Academies and similar institutions and organizes joint meetings.

43 high-level agreements on scientific cooperation have been signed with Academies of sciences around the globe.

The DRI maintains a close relationship with several multilateral interacademy organisations.

The missions (8) Foreign affairs

Exchange of lecturers with other Academies Royal Society (London)

Humphry Davy and Claude Bernard lectures Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Roma)

Enrico Fermi and Louis de Broglie lectures Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi)

Srinivasa Ramanujan and Étienne Wolff lectures

The missions (9) Education

The Department of Education (DEF) was created in 2005 to fulfill the mission of the Académie of

ensuring the quality of science teaching.

Christian Amatore is the Head of the DEF.

The DEF runs actions at the level of primary school (“La main à la pâte”) and junior high school

(since 2006) up to the university level.

The DEF interacts with public authorities and works with various national and international

partners.

The DEF organizes symposia and workshops with the active participation of Members of the

Académie.

The missions (10) Archives

The archives department of the Académie keeps and enriches the memory of science:

recording of the session minutes and documents,

storing of sealed documents to provide proof of the anteriority of a discovery,

collecting Academicians’ personal archives.

This department is open to researchers and is often sollicited for loans to exhibitions.

The department for scientific information and communication (DISC) was created in 2002. Bernard Meunier is the present Head.

Among the various actions of DISC: Pairing of Members of the Académie (including young

scientists from their group) with Members of the French Parliament

Communication towards the media, the public and the Members

Conception and enrichment of the website

The missions (11)

Scientific Information and Communication

Department of Scientific Information and Communication

Académie des sciences23, quai de Conti75006 Paris – France

Tél.: 33 (0)1.44.41.44.60Fax: 33 (0)1.44.41.45.50http://www.academie-sciences.frcourriel : disc@academie-sciences.fr

Copyright: Institut de France – Académie des sciences