THE DECLINE AND REFORM OF THE ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES A PARIS, 1676-1699

The Academie des sciences a Paris experienced fundamental changes between its creation in 1666 and its official and legal establishment in 1699. The traditional interpretation of these changes claims that the Academie declined in its scientific activities after the death of Jean-Baptiste Colbert in 1683 when the marquis de Louvois assumed responsibility for its administration. In this view it regained its vigor in 1699 when the comte de Pontchartrain and his nephew, the Abbe Jean-Paul Bignon, convinced Louis XIV to grant this body a set of formal regulations. A more recent interpretation claims that no real decline or reform of the Academie occurred, but rather a redirection of its goals. This thesis tests these contrasting interpretations on the basis of a quantitative analysis of all reported events which took place in the biweekly meetings of the Academie between 1676 and 1699.;The quantitative data indicate that the research programs of the Academie altered radically when Louvois became protector of this body. Louvois favored work in anatomy and natural history to the detriment of research in astronomy, mathematics, and mechanics, as reflected both in papers read at the bi-weekly meetings and in publishing projects. He also failed to provide sufficient leadership for the Academie, resulting in an increase in internal conflict and a clear decline in cooperation as measured by collective decisions made by the Academie as a body. The combination of these two factors resulted in a striking decline in the quantity and the quality of publications issuing from the Academie during Louvois' administration.;After 1691 Pontchartrain and the Abbe Bignon responded to the declining scientific activity and the internal conflict by providing support and leadership for the Academie. Their efforts culminated in the regulations of 1699 which established the Academie des sciences as an official government institution. The available data indicate that the goal of these regulations was to improve the scientific productivity of the Academie and its usefulness to the nation, rather than a specific effort to centralize the control of all cultural institutions.;All activities reported in the proces-verbaux of the 1,679 meetings for which records exist during these twenty-four years were coded and put into machine-readable form (computer cards) for this analysis. The results show striking changes in the scientific activities and internal functioning of the Academie under the successive administrations of its three protectors, Colbert, Louvois, and Pontchartrain. The reforms instituted in the Academie in 1699 are also compared with similar attempts to reform other cultural institutions during the reign of Louis XIV.