Montyon Prizes
Encyclopedia
Montyon Prizes are a series of prizes awarded annually by the Académie Française
. They were endowed by the French
benefactor Baron de Montyon
.
Prior to start of the French Revolution
, the Baron de Montyon
established a series of prizes to be given away by the Académie Française, the Académie des Sciences, and the Académie Nationale de Médecine
. These were abolished by the National Convention
, but were taken up again when Baron de Montyon returned to France in 1815. When he died, he bequeathed a large sum of money for the perpetual endowment of four annual prizes. The endowed prizes were as follows:
These prizes were considered by some to be a forerunner of the Nobel Prize
.
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
. They were endowed by the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
benefactor Baron de Montyon
Jean Baptiste Antoine Auget de Montyon
Antoine Jean Baptiste Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon was a French philanthropist, born in Paris.His father was a maître des comptes; he was educated in law, and became a lawyer at the Châtelet in 1755, maître des requêtes to the Conseil d'État in 1760, and intendant successively of Auvergne,...
.
Prior to start of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the Baron de Montyon
Jean Baptiste Antoine Auget de Montyon
Antoine Jean Baptiste Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon was a French philanthropist, born in Paris.His father was a maître des comptes; he was educated in law, and became a lawyer at the Châtelet in 1755, maître des requêtes to the Conseil d'État in 1760, and intendant successively of Auvergne,...
established a series of prizes to be given away by the Académie Française, the Académie des Sciences, and the Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine, or National Academy of Medicine was created in 1820 by king Louis XVIII at the urging of baron Antoine Portal. At its inception, the institution was known as the Académie Royale de Médecine...
. These were abolished by the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
, but were taken up again when Baron de Montyon returned to France in 1815. When he died, he bequeathed a large sum of money for the perpetual endowment of four annual prizes. The endowed prizes were as follows:
- Making an industrial process less unhealthy
- Perfecting of any technical improvement in a mechanical process
- Book which during the year rendered the greatest service to humanity
- The "prix de vertu" for the most courageous act on the part of a poor Frenchman
These prizes were considered by some to be a forerunner of the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
.
Past winners (date order)
- Jean Guénisset (1820)
- François-Xavier-Joseph DrozFrançois-Xavier-Joseph DrozFrançois-Xavier-Joseph Droz was a French writer on ethics, political science and political economy.He was born at Besançon, where his family had supplied many notable members of the legal profession. Droz's own legal studies led him to Paris in 1792; he arrived the day after the dethronement of...
(1823) - Antoine Germain LabarraqueAntoine Germain LabarraqueAntoine-Germain Labarraque was a French chemist and pharmacist, notable for formulating and finding important uses for "Eau de Labarraque" or "Labarraque's solution", a solution of sodium hypochlorite widely used as a disinfectant and deodoriser.Labarraque's use of sodium and calcium hypochlorite...
(1825) - Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis de TocquevilleAlexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
(1835) - Hector MalotHector MalotHector Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale.His first book, published in 1859, was Les...
(1878) - George Henry CorlissGeorge Henry CorlissGeorge Henry Corliss was an American mechanical engineer and inventor, who developed the Corliss steam engine, which was a great improvement over any other stationary steam engine of its time. The Corliss engine is widely considered one of the more notable engineering achievements of the 19th...
(1879) - Louis Fréchette
- Charles Thomas JacksonCharles Thomas JacksonCharles Thomas Jackson was an American physician and scientist who was active in medicine, chemistry, mineralogy, and geology.- Life and work :...
- Jean-Henri Fabre
- Charles NicolleCharles NicolleCharles Jules Henry Nicolle was a French bacteriologist who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus.- Biography :...
(1909, 1912, 1914) - André GirouxAndré GirouxAndré Giroux may refer to:*André Giroux , nineteenth-century French painter and photographer*André Giroux , twentieth-century Canadian writer and 1949 Montyon Prize winner...
(1949) - Charles-Nicolas PeaucellierCharles-Nicolas PeaucellierCharles-Nicolas Peaucellier was a French engineer who graduated from the École polytechnique. He made a career in the French army and was promoted to général de division in 1888....