The Pasteur Institute of Tunis (Arabic: معهد باستور بتونس), located in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, Tunisia is one of the main research centers of the International Network of Institutes Pasteur.

History

Foundation

Institut_Pasteur_de_Tunis_vers_1900_-_Tunis

Founded in 1893 by

Adrien Loir Adrien Loir (15 December 1862 – 1941) was a French bacteriologist born in Lyon. He was a nephew of Louis Pasteur, and for much of his career was associated with the Pasteur Institute. From 1882 to 1888 Loir was an assistant in Pasteur's lab ...

, it was initially made to be a rabies vaccine center. Located in rue des Tanneurs in Tunis, and now the laboratory currently does research on winemaking and diseases of the vine. A large part of the institutions prestige can be contributed to

Charles Nicolle Charles Jules Henri Nicolle (21 September 1866 – 28 February 1936) was a French bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus. Family Nicolle was born to Aline L ...

, a bacteriologist and the director between 1902-1936, who discovered the cause of typhus ( ''Rickettsia spp''.) during this period of time.

Nobel Prize for Charles Nicolle

Nicolle is rewarded for his discoveries by the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

in 1928 and the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines f ...

is honored on this occasion. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1928 and the Institut Pasteur is honored on this occasion.

Attempt to attach to France

A few years after the death of Charles Nicolle in 1936, his collaborators compete to take control of the institution. Jean Mons, General Resident of France in Tunisia ended up imposing Lucien Balozet, who was acting director from 1943 to 1949, with the aim of removing from Tunisia an important institution, which must become "dependent on the

of Paris which agrees to take charge of senior technical management, administration and recruitment of staff of all categories ". Moreover, "the Tunisian government undertakes to pay the annual sum of nine million

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

, and the land and buildings currently occupied or under construction will be allocated free of charge to the Pasteur Institute in Paris".Dr. Ahmed Ben Miled then leads a campaign in the Tunisian and French newspapers against this measure.

Directors

Below is a list of directors: * 1893–1902 :

* 1902–1936 :

* 1936–1943 : Étienne Burnet * 1943–1949 : Lucien Balozet (intérim) * 1949–1954 : Paul Durand * 1954–1960 : Gérard Renoux * 1960–1962 : Jean Levaditi * 1963–1988 :

Amor Chadli Amor Chadli (14 May 1925 – 8 November 2019) was a Tunisian physician and politician from Tunis who served as Minister of Education from 1986 to 1987. He also served as director of the Pasteur Institute of Tunis between 1963 and 1988. Chadli w ...

* 1988–2005 : Koussay Dellagi * 2005–2007 : Abdeladhim Ben Abdeladhim * depuis 2007 : Hechmi Louzir

References

{{Authority control *Tunis Medical and health organisations based in Tunisia Medical research institutes Research institutes in Tunisia