The Montyon Prize () is a series of prizes awarded annually by 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 ...
and the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
. They are endowed by the
French benefactor
Baron de Montyon.
History
Prior to the start of the
French Revolution, the
Baron de Montyon established a series of prizes to be given away by the Académie Française, the
Académie des Sciences, and the
Académie Nationale de Médecine. These were abolished by the
National Convention
The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
, but were taken up again when Baron de Montyon returned to France in 1815. When he died, he bequeathed a large sum of money for the perpetual endowment of four annual prizes. The endowed prizes were as follows:
* Making an industrial process less unhealthy
* Perfecting of any technical improvement in a mechanical process
* Book which during the year rendered the greatest service to humanity
* The "prix de vertu" for the most courageous act on the part of a poor Frenchman
These prizes were considered by some to be a forerunner of the
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 ...
.
List of winners
*
A nurse named Lespagnier (1783)
*
Jean Guénisset (1820)
*
François-Xavier-Joseph Droz (1823)
*
Antoine Germain Labarraque (1825)
*
Friedrich Sertürner (1831)
*
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (29 July 180516 April 1859), was a French Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, diplomat, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his works ''Democracy in America'' (appearing in t ...
(1835)
*
Philippe Ricord (1842)
* Jeanne Jugan (1845)
*
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...
(1859)
*
Louis Melsens (1865)
* Jules Verne (1867)
*
Joséphine Colomb (1875)
*
Mary Mapes Dodge (1876)
*
Axel Key (1878)
*
Hector Malot (1878)
*
George Henry Corliss (1879)
*
Jacques-Arsène d'Arsonval (1882)
*
Augustin Charpentier (1885)
*
Victor André Cornil (1886)
*
Louis Fréchette
*
Charles Thomas Jackson
*
Jean-Henri Fabre
*
Marie Célestine Amélie d'Armaillé (1887)
*
Claire Julie de Nanteuil (1888)
*
Claire Julie de Nanteuil (1890)
*
François Marie Galliot (1895)
*
Juliette Heuzey (1897)
*
Édouard Foà (1897 and 1901)
*
Ludovic de Contenson (1902).
*
Claude Ferval (1903)
*
Laure Conan (1903)
*
Paul Acker (1904)
*
Charles Nicolle (1909, 1912, 1914)
*
Edward Tuck and Julia Stell (1916)
*
Victor Babeș (1924)
*
Armand Praviel (1925)
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
"Armand Praviel"
Retrieved 16 February 2019 .
*
Suzanne Lavaud (1932)
*
Louise Thuliez (1935)
*
Valentine Thomson (1937)
*
Germaine Acremant (1940)
*
Ivan Đaja (1946)
*
Daniel Dugué (1947)
*
André Giroux (1949)
*
Alix André (1951)
*
Nicolas Minorsky (1955)
*
Kitty Ponse
*
Antoine de La Garanderie (1970)
*
Gaston Bouthoul (1971)
*
Bertrand de Margerie (1972)
*
Dominique-Marie Dauzet (1996)
*
Alexandre Jollien (2000)
*
Alberte van Herwynen (2001)
*
Charles-Nicolas Peaucellier
*
René Guitton (2002)
*
Michèle-Irène Brudny (2003)
*
Jacques Julliard (2004)
*
Joël Bouessée (2004)
*
Henri Hude (2005)
*
Renaud Girard (2006)
*
Marie-Frédérique Pellegrin (2007)
*
Jean-François Mattéi (2008)
*
Myriam Revault D'Allonnes (2009)
*
William Marx (2010)
*
Stéphane Chauvier (2011)
*
Bérénice Levet (2012)
*
Anca Vasiliu (2013)
*
Fabrice Wilhelm (2014)
*
Nathalie Heinich (2015)
*
Hervé Gaymard (2016)
*
Denis Lacorne (2017)
*
Gilles Lipovetsky (2018)
*
Isabelle de Lamberterie (2019)
*
Isabelle Mordant (2020)
*
Jean Seidengart (2021)
*
Neil MacGregor (2022)
External links
Catholic encyclopedia entry
References
{{Reflist
Académie Française awards
Awards of the French Academy of Sciences