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information resources specifically designed for the public
In the course of 2014, the Académie des Sciences has intensified its initiatives to provide direct scientific information to the general
public. Thus, a whole set of contributions from members of the Académie, under the editorial responsibility of the Standing Committee
for the Science History and Epistemology, is included in the “Resources” section of the Académie’s website. Moreover, the Académie
has entered the world of social networks, with the creation of a timeline Tweeter address (@AcadSciences), which enables its
registered users to directly receive information on the various events and online available resources of the Académie.
The
Lettre de l’Académie des sciences
is a biannual journal sent to more than 2,000 free subscribers and open to download on the
website of the Académie. Issues 32 (2013), 33 and 34 (2014) respectively addressed microbiota, mathematics and crystallography.
This Lettre is foremost aimed at providing the non-scientific public with a knowledge review in a given field, adding a historical
perspective to it. It also recalls the highlights of the Académie during the last half-year.
The website of the Académie has attracted 417,000 individual visitors in 2013-2014, with 19,700,000 hits and 2,150,000 pages
read. The video section provides Internet users with records of all the sessions, conferences and debates organized by the Académie
des Sciences. Browsing automatically adapts to the user’s device (computer, tablet or smartphone).
As for the e-newsletter of the Académie, it is sent to more than 14,000 subscribers, most of whom are scientists or members of
institutions. Its purpose is to alert or remind them on a monthly basis of the most important events on the agenda of the Académie.
All Internet users may subscribe from the home page of the website.
In 2010, the Académie concluded a partnership with the publisher
De vive voix
on the launching of an audio book series in which its
members share their passion for their disciplines. In 2014, Françoise Combes’s
La matière noire
[Dark Matter] joined the list of about
fifteen titles already published.
The Académie des Sciences also places a presentation brochure at the disposal of its partners and the interested public, concerning
its missions and activities, which has been translated into English, Spanish and Chinese and may be downloaded from its website.