French Academy of Sciences
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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 research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is one of the earliest Academies of Sciences.
A heroic depiction of the activities of the Academy from 1698
Louis XIV Visiting the Royal Academy of Sciences, (Sébastien Leclerc I, France, 1671)
Illustration from Acta Eruditorum (1737) where was published Machines et inventions approuvées par l'Academie Royale des Sciences
The Institut de France in Paris where the academy is housed
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
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Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the country's politics and markets, known as Colbertism, a doctrine often characterized as a variant of mercantilism, earned him the nickname le Grand Colbert.
Colbert en grande tenue
The tomb of Colbert, by Antoine Coysevox and Jean-Baptiste Tuby, 1685, in Église Saint-Eustache, Paris