The École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (also known as Mines ParisTech, École des Mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines Paris or simply les Mines) was created in 1783 by King Louis XVI in order to train intelligent directors of mines. It is one of the most prominent French engineering schools, a generalist school, one of the Grandes écoles and a prestigious member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology).

Despite its small size (fewer than 120 students accepted each year), it is a crucial part of the infrastructure of French industry.

Contents 1 History 2 Education 2.1 Diplomas 2.2 Admission for French and International students 3 Famous alumni 4 Research centres 4.1 Energy, material science 4.2 Applied math and computer science 4.3 Geology and environmental sciences 4.4 Economics and social sciences 5 See also 6 External links 7 Other schools of Mines in France

[edit] History

Mines ParisTech
Established	1783
Type	Grandes Ecoles
Location	Paris, France
Campus	Paris, Fontainebleau, Évry, Sophia-Antipolis
Affiliations	ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology), Conférence des Grandes Ecoles
Website	[1], [2]

Created by a decree of the King's Counsel on March 19th 1783, the first school of mines was located in the Hôtel de la Monnaie, in Paris.

This school disappeared at the beginning of the French revolution but was re-established by a decree of the Committee of Public Safety in 1794, the 13th messidor year II. It moved to Savoie, after a decree of the consuls the 23rd pluviôse year X (1802)

After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, the school moved to the Hôtel de Vendôme (all along the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement of Paris). From the sixties it also has annexes in Fontainebleau, Évry and Sophia-Antipolis (Nice).

[edit] Education

Its former vocation to train mining engineers evolved in the course of time, because of technological progress and transformations of society. The École des Mines de Paris has become nowadays a "generalist" school, with a broad variety of disciplines. Its students are for the most part supposed to have management position in industrial companies and receive a good training not only in technical fields but also in economics and social sciences (e.g. a sociology of science course by Bruno Latour).

[edit] Diplomas

Mines ParisTech provides different educational paths:

• The education for Civil Engineers of Mines, ranked among the three best French Grande Ecoles diplomas.
• The education for the Corps of Mines, greatest technical corps of the French state. It is an honorific third cycle education, lasting for three years, and consisting mainly in long-term internships both in public and private economical institutions.
• Doctoral and Master studies in various fields.

[edit] Admission for French and International students

• For French nationals, admission to Civil Engineer of Mines is decided through competitive examination at the end of preparatory classes, a highly selective system.

• Admission to the Corps of Mines is possible at the end of the École Polytechnique (top 10 ranked students each year), École Normale Supérieure and École des Mines de Paris (these two later, after specific concourse), or from the other great technical corps of the French state.

[edit] Famous alumni

With only fewer than 120 graduates each year, Mines Paris Tech's alumni is:

• Maurice Allais(1911-), Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 1988 (Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel )
• Georges Charpak(1924-), Nobel Prize in physics 1992
• Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), mathematician et physician, gold medal of la Royal Astronomical Society 1900
• Élie de Beaumont (1798-1874), founder of geology, Wollaston medal 1843
• Auguste Laurent (1808-1853), chimist, precursor of Organic Chemistry modern

...

• Albert Lebrun (1871-1950), president of France
• Alain Poher (1909-1996), politician, president of Sénat, president by interim of french Republic.
• Charles de Freycinet, prime minister of France at the end of the XIXth century
• Francis Mer, former CEO of Usinor and former Minister of Finances of France
• Jean-Louis Bianco (1943-), General Secretary of President of France (1982-1991), Minister of Social Affairs (France) (1991-1992), Minister of Transport (France)(1992-1993), députy of Alpes de Haute Provence's 1st constituency(1997 - )

...

• Carlos Ghosn (1954-), CEO of Nissan, CEO of Renault-Nissan
• Noël Forgeard, former CEO of Airbus and EADS
• Jean-Martin Folz, former CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën
• Denis Ranque, CEO of Thales Group
• Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva
• Thierry Desmarest, former CEO of Total

...

[edit] Research centres

[edit] Energy, material science

• Centre d'energetique et procédés
• Centre de Matériaux
• Centre de mise en forme des matériaux
• Laboratoire de mécanique des solides

[edit] Applied math and computer science

• Morphologie mathématique
• Robotique
• Géostatistique
• Recherche en informatique
• Automatique et systèmes
• Mathématiques appliquées

[edit] Geology and environmental sciences

• Centre de géologie de l'Ingénieur
• Centre d'informatique géologique
• Centre de géotechnique et d'Exploitation du Sous-Sol
• Centre de géophysique

[edit] Economics and social sciences

• Economie Industrielle
• Gestion scientifique
• Sociologie de l'innovation

[edit] See also

Other top ranked Grandes Ecoles:

• ParisTech
• École Polytechnique
• École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers
• École Centrale
• École Normale Supérieure

Students:

• The Student's Main Web Portal
• The Student Union
• The Student's Sport Committee

Alumni:

• Old Mines Paris alumni union

Museums:

• Musée de Minéralogie

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 48°50′42″N 2°20′21″E / 48.844952°N 2.339193°E / 48.844952; 2.339193

• An excellent page with photos and historical overview

[edit] Other schools of Mines in France

• École nationale supérieure des Mines de Nancy
• École nationale supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne
• École des Mines d'Ales
• École des Mines de Douai
• École des Mines de Nantes
• École des Mines d'Albi-Carmaux