Every year since 1994, the Ministry of Education, Research and Technology, has awarded several "prizes for scientific and technological culture". The purpose of these prizes is to promote scientific and technological popularization. On October 7, 1997, the winners received the prizes from the hands of Vincent Courtillot, special advisor to the Minister, Claude Allègre.

The Laboratory Prize was awarded to the GANIL, a large-scale heavy ion accelerator, DSM/CEA-IN2P3/CNRS laboratory in Caen.

This prize is awarded to university laboratories, or laboratories belonging to a public research organization which have launched popularization campaigns to inform the public about scientific research, its methods and findings as well as its issues and challenges.

• The GANIL, a national laboratory and large-scale European facility, brings together a vast community of both French and foreign researchers. Since 1983, the laboratory has been involved in many popularization actions with a view to making a difficult subject accessible to the public. With the participation of the entire staff, the laboratory took advantage of events such as Science en fête (a Science festival) and the centennial of radioactivity to acquaint the public with its activities.

  These actions are carried out in coordination with educational programs and other local campaigns.

  The GANIL was awarded first prize (50,000 FF).

• The CNRS Center for the ecology and physiology of energy in Strasbourg (CEPE) is actively publicizing this new field of research: the study of wildlife biology through microelectronics and computer technology. Thanks to these state-of-the-art observation and information transmission instruments, researchers can now improve their knowledge of natural environments.

  The CEPE, a leading group in the field, would like to emphasize the pioneering role played by French researchers in this scientific adventure. The center's active and systematic communication policy and the involvement of the entire laboratory staff have yielded positive results: press releases, TV programs, a film entitled "A penguin under close watch", lectures in schools, etc.

  The CEPE received the second prize (25,000 FF)

The Authorship Prize went to Henri Jean Schubnel, professor at the National Museum of Natural History.

This prize is awarded to researchers, teachers-researchers, research engineers and research staff (technical or administrative) who have popularized research findings.

• Henri Jean Schubnel is professor at the National Museum of Natural History and curator of the Mineralogy Gallery and of the Museum treasure. Depuis près de 33 ans cet During the past 33 years, Henri Jean Schubnel, professor, researcher, specialist in minerals and precious stones, has written remarkable works popularizing his subject; they focus on the themes of the twenty large exhibitions organized at the Museum since 1975. His writings and Museum activities have greatly contributed to bringing mineralogy closer to the public. The exhibitions "Treasures of the Museum", organized in 1993-94, "Minerals of France" (1995) and "Fantasy world of precious stones" (1996) are shining examples of his dedication.

  His museological competence is also appreciated abroad: he has organized exhibitions in the Philippines, his catalogues have been translated into English, Italian, Japanese, German and Swedish.

  Henri Jean Schubnel was awarded the first prize (20,000 FF).

• Max Thibault is a CNRS research director and has devoted several years to the study of the "ecohistory of the Atlantic salmon in Brittany", in other word,s the history of the environment of small coastal rivers in Brittany, using the Atlantic salmon as a guide. Indeed, most French wild salmon breed in these rivers. The research conducted by Max Thibault's team is interdisciplinary and includes biology, ecology, and archive study. The team has thus found that in these rivers, particularly in the Scorff, the natural salmon population is larger than was previously thought.

  Today, in Brittany, the salmon issue is particularly topical. For this reason, M. Thibault has been intent on correcting misconceptions and encouraging local authorities to improve fish-breeding in these rivers. He has set up a scientific observation facility at the Moulin des Princes in Pont-Scorff, where scientific popularization activities and events are organized on a permanent basis. All available means to spread information are employed: exhibitions, brochures, festivals, participation in the Science festival (Science en fête) from 1993 to 1996.

  Max Thibault was awarded the second prize (15,000 FF).

The Creation prize was awarded to the exhibition "Le ticket d'Archimède" (Archimedes' ticket), to the "Sand Museum" and to the operation "From Ore to Metal".

Two prizes are awarded to the most creative initiatives, among which one exhibition, launched by associations which do not belong to the research or academic world yet aim to improve the scientific knowledge of each and every one.

• The exhibition "Le ticket d'Archimède" (Archimedes' ticket).
  The Center for the popularization of knowledge (universities of Paris XI and Paris VI), in partnership which the Parisian public transportation company RATP, has been conducting for several years scientific popularization poster campaigns in the Parisian metro. The first two themes selected were "color" and "water". Each campaign consisted in placing 1200 posters in metro stations, targeting a potential public of 3 million transportation users per day. The posters' graphics are pleasing to the eye and the texts are purposely short. Their aim is to arouse people's interest in ordinary phenomena, by providing simple answers to apparently difficult questions (why does water freeze, why do bottles burst, etc.), thus enhancing the pleasure of learning and understanding.

  This iniative was awarded the first prize (20,000 FF).

• The "Sand Museum" club
  Since 1993, faculty members of the Jean Monnet junior high school in Château d'Olonne have been running this "sand club" which now owns 5,300 samples of sand from all over the world. The sand museum's scientific board is sponsored by Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and by industrialists and scientists. Each year, approximately 80 students participate in this sand-study club (granulometry, mineralogy, etc.). The University of Nantes has lent the club a microscope with a scanner for finer analyses. The students are in charge of the museum's activities. Throough the activities of the association, created in 1997, the museum is able to reach a wider public.

• Operation "From ore to metal"
  The history and archeology society of the Lure district (SHAARL) is an association of volunteers whose aim is to revive public interest in the archeology of industry in Franche-Comté. Several workshops, devoted to two basic research themes (metal and the making of metal from ore) have been set up for the public and especially for schoolchildren during the "Science en fête" festival in 1996. Regular demonstrations of the metal fusion process are conducted in the city's protohistoric and mediaeval furnaces, an excellent way for archeologists to introduce the public to the history of metal mining and metal use.

  The Sand Museaum and the SHAARL association were awarded 10,000 FF each.

Philippe de la Cotardière, winner of the scientific information prize

This prize is jointly awarded by the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education, Research and Technology to a journalist or an editor who has popularized recent scientific discoveries. The amount awarded is 20,000 FF.

For over twenty years, Philippe de la Cotardière has worked as a scientific writer and journalist, specializing in the fields of astronomy and astronautics. He has published articles in reviews and newspapers such as Le Figaro, Ca m'intéresse, Science et Avenir, Ciel et Espace, as well as 15 books of scientific popularization, among which "Le guide du ciel" (A guide to the sky) (Bordas, 1997) and "Les comètes et les astéroïdes" (Comets and Asteroids) (Le Seuil). From 1987 to 1993, he was president of the French Astronomical Society; he founded the astronomical association of Ain, of which he remained president until 1985.

Contact : Ministère de l'éducation nationale, de la recherche et de la technologie
Direction de la recherche, sous-direction des musées et de la culture scientifique et technique
Mireille Gery
Phone : +33 1 46 34 36 21