With the Académie des Sciences in 2015

AVEC L’ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES

2015

2015: One year to Prepare for the 350

Anniversary!

On 22 December 1666, Colbert introduced about fifteen savants to King Louis XIV, who bestowed upon them the task of

driving and

fostering science for the public good and glory

. In return, he granted them his protection and funded their work.

From Louis XIV Onwards

1666 - Birth of the Académie des Sciences de Paris, at the Louvre, at the initiative of Colbert

1699 - Birth of the Académie Royale des Sciences, with statutes granted by the king

1793 - Termination of the three Académies:

Française

(founded in 1635),

Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

(1663) and

Sciences

(1666)

1795 - Foundation of the

Institut National des Sciences et des Arts

, composed of the three Académies

1805 - Napoleon moves the Institut National des Sciences et des Arts to the premises of the former Collège des Quatre-Nations, on the Quai

de Conti in Paris

1816 - The three Académies become independent within the Institut de France. They are joined by the Académie des Beaux-Arts (founded in

1816) and later the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (1832)

Today - The Académie des Sciences is a legal person governed by public law with a particular status under the Research Programme Law

of 18 April 2006

Despite the trials and tribulations the instability of power relations brought about over the centuries, the Académie has remained the

enlightening institution it already was at the end of the seventeenth century. Still protected by the highest magistrate of the country, namely

the President of the French Republic, it has however gained independence: it administers itself independently, under the sole control of the

Cour des comptes (French Court of Audit).

Présentation des membres de l’Académie des sciences par Colbert à Louis XIV