The National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) (Dutch: ''Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek'' (NFWO), French: ''Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique'' (FNRS)) was once a government institution in Belgium for supporting scientific research until it was split into two separate organizations: * the Dutch-speaking '' Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen'' (FWO) (Research Foundation – Flanders) for the

Flemish Community The Flemish Community ( nl, Vlaamse Gemeenschap ; french: Communauté flamande ; german: Flämische Gemeinschaft ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilitie ...

and * the French-speaking ''Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique – FNRS'' (F.R.S.–FNRS) for the

French Community The French Community (1958–1960; french: Communauté française) was the constitutional organization set up in 1958 between France and its remaining African colonies, then in the process of decolonization. It replaced the French Union, which ...

. The task of the FWO and F.R.S.–FNRS is to stimulate the development of new knowledge in all scientific disciplines. The means to achieve this, is to finance excellent scientists and research projects after an inter-University competition and with an evaluation by foreign experts. The criterion for support is the scientific quality of the scientist and the research proposal, irrespective of scientific discipline. Both institutions, the FWO and the F.R.S.–FNRS, are located in the same building at Egmontstraat 5 rue d'Egmont in B-1000 Brussels.

History

The National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) was founded on 2 June 1928 after a call by king

Albert I of Belgium Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...

for more resources for scientific research. On 1 October 1927, in a speech at Cockerill in Seraing, King Albert I strongly emphasized the importance of scientific research to the economic development of Belgium. He repeated his appeal for more resources, on 26 November 1927, in a speech to the Academy. This led to the creation within the University Foundation of the National Fund for Scientific Research on 2 June 1928. The new institute was led by

Emile Francqui Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

. Financial support initially came from the public, and from the Solvay family that gave 100 million

Belgian franc The Belgian franc ( nl, Belgische frank, french: Franc belge, german: Belgischer Franken) was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutch ...

s. Financial contributions from the state were not needed until 1947. Today, part of the funding still comes from non-governmental sources, such as from the charitable television station Télévie. The NFSR was the first Belgian organization to finance fundamental scientific research. Among the earliest projects funded were the stratosphere flights of professor

Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Switzerland, Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking Gas balloon, hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere. Picca ...

. The

FNRS-1 The FNRS-1 was a balloon, built by Auguste Piccard, that set a world altitude record. It was named after the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique, which funded the balloon. References and notes Sources * * * See also * Nati ...

was a balloon that set a world altitude record. The NFSR also funded the FNRS-2, which was the first ever

bathyscaphe A bathyscaphe ( or ) is a free-diving self-propelled deep-sea submersible, consisting of a crew cabin similar to a bathysphere, but suspended below a float rather than from a surface cable, as in the classic bathysphere design. The float is fi ...

built.

Some early funded projects

* Archaeology ** Series of excavations at

Apamea Apamea or Apameia ( grc, Απάμεια) is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see. Places called Apamea in ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

(1930-) ** Excavations on Easter Island in (1934–1935) * Geography ** Expedition to Rwenzori (1932) * Physics **

Stratospheric The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air hi ...

aerostat An aerostat (, via French) is a lighter-than-air aircraft that gains its lift through the use of a buoyant gas. Aerostats include unpowered balloons and powered airships. A balloon may be free-flying or tethered. The average density of the cra ...

(1930) and

(1947) of

** Participation at the Jungfraujoch observatory ** An observatory for Earth's magnetic field at

Manhay Manhay (; wa, Manhé) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2007 the municipality, which covers 119.81 km², had 3,185 inhabitants, giving a population density of 26.6 inhabitants per km ...

and Lubumbashi (1932)

External links

Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique – FNRS
– official website (in French)
Beyond Academic Science: Hoover and Francqui’s Legacy in Post-War Belgium
(MS Word) {{Authority control Scientific organisations based in Belgium Science and technology in Belgium Foundations based in Belgium Members of the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics