A History of the French Académie Royale des Sciences, 1495-1746

FAIN: FT-270746-20

John Bennett Shank
Unaffiliated independent scholar

Research and writing leading to publication of the first volume of a planned three-volume history of the French Royal Academy of Sciences from 1495 to 1746.

I am requesting a two-month NEH Summer Stipend to allow me to complete volume one of a proposed three-volume history of the French Académie Royale des Sciences (ARS) during the Old Regime. Viewed in its broadest conceptualization, my book proposes a new comprehensive history of the ARS during its initial period of development. It also proposes a newly integrated approach that aspires to use the academy and its history to examine the wider history of the early modern sciences overall together with the history of the modernization of the French state between the 16th and the 18th centuries. The ultimate goal of my book project is to trace the entangled development of early modern French science and the French state, and to examine how each was involved in the co-production of the other after 1500. If awarded, my fellowship would allow me to complete the final chapter of volume one of this study, and to begin conversations with potential publishers about its publication.