French Academy of Sciences

Colbert Presenting the Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences to Louis XIV in 1667

The French Academy of Sciences (French: Académie des sciences) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV. Its aim was to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was involved with many of the important scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest academies of sciences.

The Institut de France in Paris where the academy is housed

People of the Academy

Here are some incomplete lists of the officers of the academy.

Presidents

• 1801–1814 Napoleon Bonaparte
• 1952–1962 Albert Caquot
• Currently Jean Salençon

Treasurers

• -1788 Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
• 1788–1791 Mathieu Tillet

Permanent secretaries

• December 1666 – April 1668 Jean-Baptiste Du Hamel
• April 1668 – December 1669 Jean Gallois
• January 1670 – January 1697 Jean-Baptiste Du Hamel
• January 1697 – December 1740 Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (nominated by the king in January 1699)
• January 1741 – August 1743 Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan
• September 1743 – July 1776 Jean-Paul Grandjean de Fouchy
• August 1777 – August 1793 Nicolas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet

Mathematical Sciences and then Mathematical Sciences and Physics

• 1801–1822 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre
• 1822–1830 Joseph Fourier
• 1830–1853 François Arago
• 1853–1874 Léonce Élie de Beaumont
• 1874–1900 Joseph Bertrand
• 1900–1917 Gaston Darboux
• 1917–1942 Émile Picard
• 1942–1975 Louis de Broglie
• 1975–1996 Paul Germain
• Currently: Jean Dercourt

Physical Sciences

• 1795–1803 Bernard Germain de Lacépède
• 1803–1832 Georges Cuvier
• 1832–1833 Pierre-Louis Dulong
• 1833–1868 Pierre Flourens
• 1868–1884 Jean-Baptiste Dumas
• 1884–1886 Jules Jamin
• 1886–1887 Alfred Vulpian
• 1887–1889 Louis Pasteur
• 1889–1907 Marcelin Berthelot
• 1907 Albert de Lapparent
• 1908 Henri Becquerel
• 1908–1914 Philippe van Tieghem
• 1914–1948 Alfred Lacroix

Chemistry and Biology

• 1948–1986 Robert Courrier
• 1986–1991 Alfred Jost
• 1991–2001 François Gros
• 2001–2006 Nicole Le Douarin
• Currently Jean-François Bach