Historedia
EuropeEvent

First Meeting of the French Academy of Sciences

When
1666
Where
King's library
Episodes
1

In 1666, Louis XIV founded the French Academy of Sciences at Jean-Baptiste Colbert's suggestion. The first meeting occurred on 22 December 1666 in the King's library, establishing a body to protect French scientific research.

Episodes

  1. 22 December 1666 · King's libraryInaugural Session

    The first meeting of the French Academy of Sciences occurred on 22 December 1666 in the King's library.

Background and detail

The First Meeting. The Academy's inaugural session took place on 22 December 1666. Louis XIV selected a small group of scholars who convened in the King's library, located near the present-day Bibliothèque Nationale. The group subsequently held twice-weekly working meetings in two assigned rooms.

People involved

Sources

  1. French Academy of Sciences Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-02
  2. Louis XIV Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-23

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.