Académie des Sciences

Learned body set up by Colbert in 1666 on the basis of previously existing informal meetings of scientists in circles such as those of Mersenne and the Dupuy brothers. It originally contained six classes, and was designed to encourage experiment and the communication of information and to apply science to the prestige and prosperity of the nation. Given the weakness of the universities [see Education], the Académie became a major centre of intellectual life in the 18th c., boasting members such as d'Alembert, Buffon, and Lavoisier. Fontenelle, who was Secrétaire Perpétuel from 1697 for over half a century, was responsible for the regular publication of reports, which brought scientific novelties to the attention of a broader public; he also composed éloges of deceased academicians which constitute an embryonic history of science. Like the other royal academies, the Académie des Sciences was closed in 1793, but quickly re-emerged as a part of the new Institut de France, and regained its original name in 1816.

[Peter France]