The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest
fundamental science
Basic research, also called pure research or fundamental research, is a type of scientific research with the aim of improving scientific theories for better understanding and prediction of natural or other phenomena. In contrast, applied resear ...
agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engineers and technical staff, and 7,085 contractual workers.
It is headquartered in Paris and has administrative offices in
Brussels, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore, Washington, D.C.,
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
, Moscow,
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
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, utc_offset1 ...
,
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
,
Santiago de Chile,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...
.
From 2009 to 2016, the CNRS was ranked No. 1 worldwide by the
SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR), an international ranking of research-focused institutions, including universities, national research centers, and companies such as
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
or
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
. The CNRS ranked No. 2 between 2017 and 2021, then No. 3 in 2022 in the same SIR, after the
Chinese Academy of Sciences
The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republi ...
and before universities such as
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
,
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
, or
Stanford University. The CNRS was ranked No. 3 in 2015 and No. 4 in 2017 by the
Nature Index, which measures the largest contributors to papers published in 82 leading journals.
In May 2021, the CNRS ranked No. 2 in the Nature Index, before the
Max Planck Society and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
Organization
The CNRS operates on the basis of research units, which are of two kinds: "proper units" (UPRs) are operated solely by the CNRS, and "joint units" (UMRs – ) are run in association with other institutions, such as
universities or
INSERM. Members of joint research units may be either CNRS researchers or university employees (
''maîtres de conférences'' or ''professeurs''). Each research unit has a numeric code attached and is typically headed by a university professor or a CNRS research director. A research unit may be subdivided into research groups ("équipes"). The CNRS also has support units, which may, for instance, supply administrative, computing, library, or engineering services.
In 2016, the CNRS had 952 joint research units, 32 proper research units, 135 service units, and 36 international units.
The CNRS is divided into 10 national institutes:
* Institute of Chemistry (INC)
* Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE)
* Institute of Physics (INP)
*
Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3)
* Institute of Biological Sciences (INSB)
* Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (INSHS)
* Institute for Computer Sciences (INS2I)
* Institute for Engineering and Systems Sciences (INSIS)
* Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INSMI)
* Institute for Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU)
The National Committee for Scientific Research, which is in charge of the recruitment and evaluation of researchers, is divided into 47 sections (e.g. section 41 is mathematics, section 7 is computer science and control, and so on). Research groups are affiliated with one primary institute and an optional secondary institute; the researchers themselves belong to one section. For administrative purposes, the CNRS is divided into 18 regional divisions (including four for the Paris region).
Employment
Researchers who are permanent employees of the CNRS are classified in two categories, each subdivided into two or three classes, and each class is divided into several pay grades.
In principle, research directors tend to head research groups, but this is not a general rule (a research scientist can head a group or even a laboratory and some research directors do not head a group).
Employees for support activities include research engineers, studies engineers, assistant engineers and technicians. Contrary to what the name would seem to imply, these can have administrative duties (e.g. a secretary can be "technician", an administrative manager of a laboratory an "assistant engineer").
All permanent support employees are recruited through annual nationwide competitive campaigns. Following a 1983 reform, the candidates selected have the status of civil servants and are part of the public service.
History
The CNRS was created on 19 October 1939 by decree of President
Albert Lebrun
Albert François Lebrun (; 29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance (A ...
. Since 1954, the centre has annually awarded
gold, silver, and bronze medals to French scientists and junior researchers. In 1966, the organisation underwent structural changes, which resulted in the creation of two specialised institutes: the National Astronomy and Geophysics Institute in 1967 (which became the National Institute of Sciences of the Universe in 1985) and the
(IN2P3; English: National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics) in 1971.
The effectiveness of the recruitment, compensation, career management, and evaluation procedures of CNRS have been under scrutiny. Governmental projects include the transformation of the CNRS into an organization allocating support to research projects on an ad hoc basis and the reallocation of CNRS researchers to universities. Another controversial plan advanced by the government involves breaking up the CNRS into six separate institutes. These modifications, which were again proposed in 2021 by ultraliberal "think tanks" such as the Institut Montaigne, have been massively rejected by French scientists, leading to multiple protests.
Leadership
Past presidents
*
Claude Fréjacques (1981–1989)
* René Pellat (1989–1992)
*
Édouard Brézin (1992–2000)
* Gérard Mégie (2000–2004)
* Bernard Meunier (2004–2006)
*
Catherine Bréchignac (2006–2010)
Past directors general
* Jean Coulomb (1957–1962)
*
Pierre Jacquinot (1962–1969)
*
Hubert Curien
Hubert Curien (30 October 1924 – 6 February 2005) was a French physicist and a key figure in European science politics, as the President of CERN Council (1994–1996), the first chairman of the European Space Agency (ESA) (1981–1984), and s ...
(1969–1973)
* Robert Chabbal (1976–1980)
* Pierre Papon (1982–1986)
* François Kourilsky (1988–1994)
* Guy Aubert (1994–1997)
*
Catherine Bréchignac (1997–2000)
* Geneviève Berger (2000–2003)
* Bernard Larrouturou (2003–2006)
*
Arnold Migus (2006–2010)
Past and current president director general (CEO)
Alain Fuchs
Alain Fuchs (born 10 April 1953) is a Swiss-born French Doctor of Science and chemistry Professor, specialized in molecular simulation. He served as the president of Chimie ParisTech - PSL from 2006 to 2010. He has served as the president of the ...
was appointed president on 20 January 2010. His position combined the previous positions of president and director general.
* 2010–2017:
Alain Fuchs
Alain Fuchs (born 10 April 1953) is a Swiss-born French Doctor of Science and chemistry Professor, specialized in molecular simulation. He served as the president of Chimie ParisTech - PSL from 2006 to 2010. He has served as the president of the ...
* From 24 October 2017 to 24 January 2018 (interim):
Anne Peyroche
* Since 24 January 2018:
Antoine Petit
See also
*
CNRS Gold medal
*
CNRS Silver Medal
The CNRS Silver Medal is a scientific award given every year to about fifteen researchers by the French National Centre for Scientific Research
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherch ...
*CNRS Bronze Medal
*
Centre pour la communication scientifique directe
*
Laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative
*
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Spanish counterpart to the CNRS
References
External links
*
Review of the history of the CNRSCNRS Editions* "The founding of CNRS" (1939), online and analysed on
BibNum'
lick 'à télécharger' for English version/small>
{{Authority control
1939 establishments in France
Publishing companies of France