Montyon Prize


The Montyon Prize is a series of prizes awarded annually by the French Academy of Sciences and the Académie française. They are endowed by the French benefactor Baron de Montyon.

History

Prior to the 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:
  • 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.

List of winners