ESPCI Paris (officially the École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris, , ''The City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution'') is a

grande école A (; ) is a specialized top-level educational institution in France and some other countries such as Morocco and Tunisia. are part of an alternative educational system that operates alongside the mainstream List of public universities in Franc ...

founded in 1882 by the city of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It educates undergraduate and graduate students in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and conducts high-level research in those fields. It is ranked as the first French ''École d'Ingénieurs'' in the 2017 Shanghai Ranking. ESPCI Paris is a constituent college of Université PSL and a founding member of the

ParisTech ParisTech () is a cluster of 7 grandes écoles based in Paris, France. It covers the whole spectrum of science, technology and management and has more than 12,000 students. The training programs in engineering bring them together. ParisTech sc ...

(Paris Institute of Technology) alliance. Two thirds of the students enter the school following a competitive examination (concours X-ESPCI- ENS) following at least two years of Classes Préparatoires. The other students are recruited by submitting applications. The school itself is also known as Physique-Chimie or simply PC. ESPCI Paris nurtures relationships with many industrial partners such as

Schlumberger Schlumberger (), doing business as SLB, is a global multinational oilfield services company. Founded in France in 1926, the company is now incorporated as Schlumberger NV in Willemstad, Curaçao, with principal executive offices in Houston ...

, Rhodia,

TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorati ...

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

Arkema Arkema S.A. is a Public company, publicly listed, multi-national manufacturer of specialty materials, headquartered in La Défense, near Paris, France. It has three specialty materials segments (or divisions); Adhesive, adhesives, advanced mater ...

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

, Withings, which sponsors groups of students and has research contracts with ESPCI laboratories. ESPCI Paris also has partnerships with

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris

and Saint-Gobain for professional recruitment.

History

At the end of the 19th century, following the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine by Germany, France lost the École de Chimie de Mulhouse (Mulhouse Chemistry School), which was at that time the best chemistry school in the country. One of its professors, Charles Lauth, obtained permission from the government in 1878 to create a

Grande École Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to: Places *Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany *Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas *Grande-Rivière (disambiguation) *Arroio ...

. In 1882 the École Supérieure de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris was established and became ESPCI, its current name, in 1948. Since its foundation, the founders of the school have emphasized pluridisciplinarity. Biology was introduced in 1994. There are no tuition fees at ESPCI. After its establishment, the school rapidly became a meeting spot for the best scientists. From 1880 on, Pierre and Jacques Curie started a serie of research on crystal electrical properties that led to the

piezoelectricity Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The piezoel ...

discovery. In 1897, Marie Curie started her work on uranic rays discovered by Becquerel one year earlier. After numerous experiments in the ESPCI laboratories, she discovered that pitchblende was 4 times more radioactive than uranium or thorium. In July 1898, the Curies announced the discovery of polonium and in December of the same year that of radium. Pierre and

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

received the Physics

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in 1903. After the death of her husband, Marie Curie was granted the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 1911. Many former students have distinguished themselves, amongst which are

Georges Claude Georges Claude (24 September 187023 May 1960) was a French engineer and inventor. He is noted for his early work on the industrial liquefaction of air, for the invention and commercialization of neon lighting, and for a large experiment on gener ...

(5th year), founder of

Air Liquide Air Liquide S.A. ( , ; literally " liquid air") is a French multinational company which supplies industrial gases and services to various industries including medical, chemical and electronic manufacturers. Founded in 1902, after Linde it is ...

Paul Langevin Paul Langevin (23 January 1872 – 19 December 1946) was a French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the '' Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes'', an anti-fascist ...

(7th year), physicist and inventor and

Frédéric Joliot-Curie Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (; ; 19 March 1900 – 14 August 1958) was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his wife, Irène Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were t ...

(39th year), founder of the CEA and Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 with his wife

Irène Joliot-Curie Irène Joliot-Curie (; ; 12 September 1897 – 17 March 1956) was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were ...

. In 1976, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Nobel Prize 1991) became Director of the school and remained in this position until his retirement in 2002. In 2015, the city of Paris announced a major renovation plan, in order to modernize the buildings and laboratories of the school. Renovation work should start in 2018 and last five years.

Education

The course of study lasts four years. The two first years give the students a strong basic education in physics, chemistry and biology. The students can major in physics, chemistry or physico-chemistry. Laboratory research projects are also carried out. During the third year, the students carry out an industrial internship, which lasts from 4 to 6 months. More than 50% of the students do their internship abroad, in European countries, the United-States, Japan, China, Australia, or other countries. During the fourth year, the students can either begin doctoral studies or do a masters abroad or in France. In 2002 a masters program in bioengineering was created. The quality of the education at ESPCI enables its students to work in any industrial sector (telecommunication, computing, chemistry, pharmacology, biology, and other fields), mostly in Research and Development (47% in R&D, 10% in production, 10% in consultancy, 5% in environmental work, 3% in teaching, 3% in computing, 22% in other fields such as marketing or management).

Admission

The primary mode of admission (60 out of 90 students every year) is a competitive examination open to candidates enrolled in the PC (Physics-Chemistry) section of the Preparatory Classes to the

Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

. The examinations are the same as for the Ecole Polytechnique but the components are weighted differently. Candidates to the competitive examination must have their

licence A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

or an equivalent diploma. They must be aged between 17 and 22 on 1 January of the examination year. Foreign candidates must be under 26 and can attempt this examination three times. It is also possible for students from the MP section (Maths-Physics), PSI section (Physics and Engineering Sciences), and BCPST section (Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences) of the preparatory classes or having completed 2 or 3 years of physics or chemistry in a French university to apply for ESPCI Paris. Admission is reserved to first class honours students selected according to their academic results.

Directors of the ESPCI

* Paul Schützenberger (1882–1896), member of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

* Charles Lauth (1897–1904) *

Albin Haller Albin Haller (7 March 1849, Fellering – 1 May 1925) was a French chemist.W. J. Pope (1925) ''Nature'', Vol.115(2900), p.843 "Prof. Albin Haller, For. Mem. R.S" (obituary) Haller founded the École Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiqu ...

(1905–1924), member of the

(1925–1946), member of the

* René Lucas (1947–1968), member of the

* Georges Champetier (1969–1975), member of the

* Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1976–2003),

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

, member of the

* Jacques Prost (2003–2013), member of the

* Jean-François Joanny (2013–2019) * Vincent Croquette since 2019.

Notable faculty

*Jérôme Bibette, physical chemist, founder of five startups RainDance Technologies, Ademtech, Capsum, HiFiBio and Calyxia. * Bernard Cabane, member of the

* Georges Charpak,

*Janine Cossy, professor of organic chemistry,

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

Prize (2000),

Boehringer Ingelheim C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. is the parent company of the Boehringer Ingelheim group, which was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861–1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's List of la ...

Prize (2001) * Mathias Fink, professor of acoustics, professor at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

, member of the

, founder of Sensitive Object, SuperSonic Imagine, Echosens and Time Reversal Com. *Étienne Guyon, former director of the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

and the

Palais de la Découverte Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace **Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées **Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River in t ...

* Ludwik Leibler, professor of soft matter, member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

Jacques Lewiner Jacques Lewiner (born in 1943) is a French physicist and inventor. He is Professor and Honorary Scientific Director of École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris), and (since 2012) dean of innova ...

, professor of solid state physics, member of the

French Academy of Technologies The National Academy of Technologies of France (''Académie des technologies'') is a learned society, founded in 2000, with an emphasis on technology, and the newest of French academies. In 2007 it acquired the status of ''établissement public'', ...

, founder of

Inventel Inventel was a French company developing consumer electronics and communication systems, noted for Gateway (telecommunications), domestic gateways and considered one of the primary architects of Triple play (telecommunications), Triple play in Eu ...

, Roowin, Cynove and Finsécur *Pierre Papon, professor of thermal physics, former director general of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

*Jean Rossier, professor of biology, member of the

*Jérôme Lesueur, professor of quantum physics * Dimitri Roditchev, professor of condensed matter physics

Notable alumni

Paul Lebeau Paul Marie Alfred Lebeau (19 December 1868 – 18 November 1959) was a French chemist. He studied at the elite École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI). Together with his doctoral advisor Henri M ...

(4°), chemist, member of the

* Lucien Lévy (1892–1965), French radio engineer and radio receiver manufacturer. * Paul Boucherot (4°), physicist, pioneer of DC electric power distribution *

(5°), founder of

(7°), professor at the

, member of the

Georges Urbain Georges Urbain (12 April 1872 – 5 November 1938) was a French chemist, a professor of the Sorbonne, a member of the Institut de France, and director of the Institute of Chemistry in Paris. Much of his work focused on the rare earths, isolating ...

(9°), chemist, discoverer of the element

Lutetium Lutetium is a chemical element; it has symbol Lu and atomic number 71. It is a silvery white metal, which resists corrosion in dry air, but not in moist air. Lutetium is the last element in the lanthanide series, and it is traditionally counted am ...

, member of the

André-Louis Debierne André-Louis Debierne (; 14 July 1874 – 31 August 1949) was a French chemist. He is often considered the discoverer of the element actinium, though H. W. Kirby disputed this in 1971 and gave credit instead to German chemist Friedrich Oskar Gies ...

(9°), chemist, discoverer of the element

Actinium Actinium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ac and atomic number 89. It was discovered by Friedrich Oskar Giesel in 1902, who gave it the name ''emanium''; the element got its name by being wrongly identified with a substa ...

* Fernand Holweck (26°), physicist *René Lucas (34°), physicist, member of the

*Henri Moureu (36°), chemist, member of the

* Frédéric Joliot (39°),

(1935), founder of the CEA *Jean-Jacques Trillat (39°), physicist, member of the

*Georges Champetier (41°), chemist, member of the

* Gaston Charlot (41°), chemist, member of the

Pierre Gy Pierre Maurice Gy (; 25 July 1924 – 5 November 2015) was a chemist and statistician. Born in Paris, France, to Felix and Clemence, Gy graduated in chemical engineering from ESPCI ParisTech in 1946. On graduation, Gy worked as a chemical engin ...

(62°), chemist and statistician * Philippe Dreyfus (66°) informatics pioneer *Michel Winterberger (67°),

Pechiney Pechiney SA was a major aluminium conglomerate based in France. The company was acquired in 2003 by the Alcan Corporation, headquartered in Canada. In 2007, Alcan itself was taken over by mining giant Rio Tinto Alcan. Prior to its acquisitio ...

scientific advisor, member of the

*Michel Lavalou (69°), Rhône-Poulenc scientific advisor, member of the

*Maurice Goldman (70°), physicist, member of the

*Guy Sebban (83°),

International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. ICC represents over 45 million businesses in over 170 countries who have interest ...

Secretary General *Alain Brillet (85°),

Gold Medal 2017, codirector of

VIRGO Virgo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Virgo (film), a 1970 Egyptian film * Virgo (character), several Marvel Comics characters * Virgo Asmita, a character in the manga ''Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'' * ''Virgo'' (album), by Virgo Four, ...

for 15 years. *Henri-Dominique Petit (87°), Chairman of Sperian Protection *Sylvain Visconti (87°), former vice-president of Rhone-Poulenc *Serge Le Berre (87°), former CTO of

Valeo Valeo is a French global automotive supplier headquartered in France, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange ( CAC Next 20 Index). It supplies a wide range of products to automakers and the aftermarket. The Group employs 113,600 people in 29 countri ...

. *Michel Baritiu (87°), former vice-président of

Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation and the world's second-largest oil service company which is responsible for most of the world's fracking operations. It employs approximately 55,000 people through its hundreds of su ...

*Christian Dailly (87°), International director of

*Laurent Vigroux (89°), director of the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris *Xavier Drago (90°), sustainable development director and member of the board of

*Bernard Serin (90°), chairman of Cockerill-Sambre (CMI) (ex-Usinor) and of the

FC Metz Football Club de Metz () is a Football in France, French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 1, the highest division in the French football league system, for the 2025–26 Ligue 1, ...

*Philippe Goebel (91°), chairman of Total Petrochemicals France *Patrice Robichon (91°), scientific advisor of Pernod-Ricard *

Christian Reinaudo Christian Reinaudo (born 1954) is a French businessman. Since 1 January 2008, he is President of the Agfa HealthCare business group and a member of the Executive Committee of Agfa-Gevaert. Education He graduated from the ESPCI Paris and obtained ...

(92°), President of Agfa HealthCare *Philippe Klein (95°), executive vice-president of

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

, member of the

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

Board * Hervé This (95°), physical chemist *Henri Rajbenbach (98°), general director of the

Information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

at the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

* Éric Carreel (98°), co-founder of Withings, Sculpteo and Invoxia. * Isabelle Guyon (100°), pioneer and researcher in

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

Laboratories

ESPCI hosts high levels laboratories: * Langevin Institute of Prof Arnaud Tourin
Chemistry, Biology and Innovation Institute
of Prof. Jerome Bibette
Gulliver Laboratory
of Prof.Elie Raphael
Physics and Materials Laboratory
of Prof. Ricardo Lobo
Physics and Mechanics of Heterogeneous Media
of Prof. Philippe Petitjeans
Soft Matter and Chemistry Laboratory
of Prof. Ludwik Leibler
Brain Plasticity Unit
of Prof. Thomas Preat

of Prof. Joelle Vinh
Sciences and Engineering of Soft Matter
of Prof. Christian Fretigny

The ESPCI Paris International Scientific Committee

President:The ESPCI Paris ISC
/ref> *Prof. Michael Cates, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Members: *Pr. Jian Ping Gong, Professor at the Laboratory of Soft & Wet Matter at

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

, Sapporo (Japan) *Prof. Laura H. Greene, Physics professor at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, Chief Scientist at the

National High Magnetic Field Laboratory The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) is a facility at Florida State University, the University of Florida, and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, that performs magnetic field research in physics, biology, bioengineeri ...

, Professor of physics at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

*Prof. Hui Cao, Professor of Applied Physics and of Physics at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

*Prof. Ben Feringa Professor of Molecular Sciences at

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, th ...

*Prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, Professor of The Natural Sciences at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

*Prof. Bruno Weber, Professor at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

, Institute of Pharmacology & Toxicology – Experimental Imagining and Nauroenergetics *Dr. Armand Adjari, Vice-president Research & Development of Saint-Gobain (France) *Dr. Éric Carreel, President-founder of Inventel, Invoxia, Sculpteo & Withings *Dr. Helen Routh, Global Healthcare Executive: Innovation, Technology Development, & General Management, Philips (Boston, USA)

References

External links

Official site of ESPCI

ESPCI Student's Association

ESPCI Alumni Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:ESPCI Paris Universities and colleges established in 1882 Technical universities and colleges in France ParisTech, ESPCI ParisTech 1882 establishments in France