With the Académie des Sciences in 2015

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AVEC L’ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES 2015
Adding Value to a Scientific Heritage
Historical archives
The Académie des Sciences holds archives dating to its creation and continuously expands its stock through purchases, donations or
bequests from its members. French and foreign researchers, top-level university members, come and consult in the Reading Room
these unique documentary sources that make the Académie des Sciences stand as one of the main conservation institutions where
today’s research in science history commences.
In 2015, 915 documents were communicated, 319 workshops held upon request, 208 readers greeted and guided in the Reading
Room and 154 historical research projects carried out for a third party. Fifteen letters from Cuvier to Duméril, two letters from la
Condamine and the catalogue of Dutrochet’s library have moreover entered into the archives.
The sealed deposit procedure44 at the Académie allows researchers or inventors to secure the date in time of their scientific discoveries
or process inventions. The Standing Commission for Sealed Deposits (Commission des plis cachetés) unsealed 328 envelopes in
2015, and 27 expert reports were requested. 37 envelopes were deposited during this period (including 9 authors submitting 2
envelopes), and 2 were returned to their authors. The year 2015 was also the year the database of sealed envelopes was achieved
and set up.
Committees Dedicated to Great Scientists
Lavoisier Committee
The Académie des Sciences holds the vast majority of the archives of the founder of modern
chemistry, as entrusted by his heirs with a view to have the works of Lavoisier (Oeuvres de
Lavoisier) published. Since Volume 7 of Lavoisier’s correspondence (Correspondance) was
published in 2012, the eponymous committee has been in charge of creating general tables
for the Oeuvres and Correspondance and preparing several hundred letters more (Volume 8)
that are being dated, transcribed and annotated.
D’Alembert Committee and ENCCRE project
The mission of the Comité d’Alembert45 of the Académie des Sciences, chaired by Académie Member Jean-Pierre Kahane, is to lead
the publication and dissemination of the complete work of Jean Le Rond d’Alembert (1717-1783), in the form of five book series,
each focused on one of the scientist’s activities:
• Series I: Traités et mémoires de mathématiques [Mathematical Treaties and Memoirs], 11 volumes planned (3 already
published);
• Series II: L’Encyclopédie [The Encyclopaedia]. D’Alembert’s contribution to the Encyclopaedia amounts to a dozen of printed
volumes. A digital critical edition of the whole of the Encyclopaedia is in progress, within the ENCCRE project; on completion,
it shall replace the current printed Series II Edition;
• Series III: Opuscules mathématiques [Mathematical Opuscules], 11 volumes planned (2 volumes already published);
• Series IV: Écrits philosophiques, historiques et littéraires [Philosophical, historical and literary written work], 10 volumes
planned (1 already published);
• Series V: Correspondance générale [General Correspondence], 11 volumes planned (2 already published). Volume V/2 was
published at the end of 2015. These 115 letters pertain to D’Alembert’s private life, his institutional life (his relationships
with the Academies of Paris and Berlin) and thematic parts: general mechanics, fluid mechanics, pure mathematics,
celestial mechanics, music, and the beginning of his personal investment in the Encyclopédie.
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