The greatest ambition of any moderately successful nineteenth-century French scientist was to become a member of the Academy of Sciences. Science Under Control is the first major study in any language of this elite institution, in a period that began with such influential figures as Laplace and Cuvier and extended to the time of Louis Pasteur and Henri Poincare. The book attempts to remove the veil of mystery and misunderstanding that has shrouded this key institution and its procedures. The French government exercised political, financial, and bureaucratic control over the Academy, and the...

Gay-Lussac is best known for his chemical work but also made important contributions to other physical sciences and technology. This is the first work to examine critically both the scientific work and the man behind it. Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778 1850) lived through three revolutions in France and his life reflected the social transformations taking place around him. His education and early progress in science depended on the Revolution of 1789 and on the patronage of the chemist Berthollet, a close associate of Napoleon Bonaparte. Gay-Lussac may be seen as the first 'professional'...