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encOURAGinG the ScientiFic cOmmUnitY
Modelling and Molecular Dynamics: How do they Impact on Life Sciences?
The processes of modelling and simulating at the molecular scale play an ever
greater role on the interface between life sciences and chemistry and are now as
key partners to the experimentation phase. Speakers invited by the Académie des
Sciences, notably Martin Karplus, 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, have shown how
simulation makes it possible to “visualize” the molecular interactions that occur in
complex biological functions, and thus constitutes a precious tool for interpreting
experimental observations and guide new experiences (27 May 2014).
© Leonid Andronov - Fotolia
Partner sessions and colloquia
Genetically Modified Plants
The genetic modification of plants involves a whole set of scientific and
technological tools, which is available to the scientific community. In 2012,
the Académie des Sciences launched a internal reflection on the topic,
focusing on the techniques that improve plants (quality, herbicide- and
insect-resistance), the potential impacts of genetically modified plants (GMP)
on human or animal health and the ecological issues raised by their use.
This reflection added to the considerations of other academies sharing an
interest in this topic, on the occasion of a joint colloquia widely open to civil
society and organized around what preliminary discussions had been pointed
as crucial issues (19 November2013)
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Académie des Sciences - Académie d’Agriculture de France - Académie des Technologies Colloquium
© lainon - Fotolia
members of the académie pay tribute to their predecessors
On a regular basis, sessions are devoted to disappeared members of the Académie. in 2013 and 2014, the memory of the following
members has thus been honoured:
Alexis clairaut (1713-1765), one the great mathematicians of his time along with such eminent scientists as euler, Bernouilli and
D’Alembert. his work gave a decisive impulse to the new style of physico-mathematics, in which mathematics (differential and
integral calculus, differential equations, partial derivative equations) and physics (astronomy, mechanics, optics) progress side by
side.
The tercentenary of Clairaut, a Mathematician and Geophysicist
(14 may 2013);
The Tercentenary of Clairaut, a Scientist of the
Enlightenment
(13 and 14 may 2013);
Antoine Parmentier (1737-1813), a pharmacist, agronomist, nutritionist and hygienist, who promoted the introduction of potato into human
diet, especially to fight food shortage. he also distinguished himself by the positions he took as a man of science within society.
Science in the
Service of Public Good, a Joint Session of the Académie des Sciences and Académie d’Agriculture de France
(16 October 2013);
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895): 150 years after his election to the Académie des Sciences, this tribute to Louis Pasteur revisited his
fundamental contributions to the understanding of living beings and outlined the new microbiology that is heir to his most momentous
work.
Louis Pasteur: What Answers for the Future?
(9 April2013);
maurice tubiana (1920-2013), a cancer physician and physicist of worldwide reputation for his expertise in anticancer radiation
therapy, was on the clinical side a pioneer in translational research, and, regarding public health, an expert in analyzing the relations
between cancer and the environment – which gave rise to the initiatives he carried out, leading to the French anti-tobacco laws.
A
Joint Session of the Académie des Sciences and Académie Nationale de Médecine
(2 December 2014);
michel Durand-Delga (1923-2012), a geologist who devoted his career to studying the chains of the Alps near the Western banks of
the mediterranean Sea: he notably defined the maghrebian chain, which is 3000 km long from the Rif mountains to calabria, and
highlighted the complex situation, from a tectonic point of view, of the Gibraltar Arc.
Colloquium held in cooperation with the Société
Géologique de France
(3 December 2013).