Savants Français Dans La Guerre Mondiale 1914-1918

Many events and commemorative ceremonies have been organised in remembrance of the First World War. In this context, we present the activities of French scientists and scientific institutions during the period. We focus on the creation in 1887 of the “commission d’examen des inventions intéressant l’armée” and the contribution of the mathematician Paul Painlevé; the activities of some scientists contributing to the “war effort” despite their internationalist convictions: Aimé Cotton, Weiss, de Gramont and Chrétien, Langevin, Perrin, Marie Curie and Regaud; innovative research and development on scientific instruments in various disciplines, such as communications and radiotelegraphy, optics, chemistry, medicine and their applications; the contributions of the « grandes écoles parisiennes », for instance, the School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry; the impact of the WWI on the organisation of the French research and the creation of new research institutions, and the consequences of the loss of numerous young scientists.