Académie Française

The Académie Française (literally, French Academy) is a French body founded in 1570 when King Charles IX granted the charter of an "academy of Music and Poetry" to the poet Antoine de Baïf and the musician, Gourville, who named it "Académie Française." On February 10, 1635, Cardinal Richelieu (regent of Louis XIII) expanded it into a national academy for the artistic elite. The Académie, located in Paris, is the official authority on usage, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language. It also encourages the use of French worldwide and awards literary prizes.

As French culture and language have come under increasing pressure with the widespread availability of English media, the Académie has tried to prevent the anglicization of the French language. It is as a direct result of a decision of the Académie that the French word for "computer" is "ordinateur" and that the field of study dealing with computers is known as "l'informatique."

The Académie itself is composed of forty members, known as the immortels (immortals) because they serve for life. Famous current and former immortels include author Victor Hugo, author and director Marcel Pagnol[?], poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, playwright Eugène Ionesco, anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, and physicist Louis-Victor de Broglie.

The Académie is tasked with publishing an official dictionary of the French language. It has done so in 1694, 1718, 1740, 1762, 1798, 1835, 1878, and in 1932-1935. The Académie continues work on the most recent (ninth) 1992 edition of the dictionary, of which the first volume (A to Enzyme) appeared in 1992, and the second volume (Éocène to Mappemonde) appeared in 2000.

Members of the Académie Française

1. René Rémond[?], elected 1998
2. Hector Bianciotti[?], elected 1996
3. Jean-Denis Bredin[?], elected 1989
4. Jean-Marie Lustiger[?], elected 1995
5. Marc Fumaroli[?], elected 1995
6. Jacqueline Worms de Romilly[?], elected 1988
7. Michel Déon[?], elected 1978
8. Alain Decaux[?], elected 1979
9. Florence Delay[?], elected 2000
10. Gabriel de Broglie[?], elected 2001
11. Jean d'Ormesson[?], elected 1973
12. Pierre Messmer, elected 1999
13. Hélène Carrère d'Encausse[?], elected 1990
14. Frédéric Vitoux[?], elected 2001
15. Érik Orsenna[?], elected 1998
16. Michel Serres[?], elected 1990
17. Pierre Moinot[?], elected 1982
18. Angelo Rinaldi[?], elected 2001
19. Félicien Marceau[?], elected 1975
20. René de Obaldia[?], elected 1999
21. Pierre Rosenberg[?], elected 1995
22. Jean-François Revel[?], elected 1997
23. Jean Bernard[?], elected 1975
24. Jean-Marie Rouart[?], elected 1997
25. Pierre Nora[?], elected 2001
26. Henri Troyat[?], elected 1959
27. Claude Lévi-Strauss, elected 1973
28. Maurice Druon[?], elected 1966
29. Jean Dutourd[?], elected 1978
30. Maurice Rheims[?], elected 1976
31. Michel Mohrt[?], elected 1985
32. François Cheng[?], elected 2002
33. Yves Pouliquen[?], elected 2001
34. Jean-François Deniau[?], elected 1992
35. Robert-Ambroise-Marie Carré[?], elected 1975
36. François Jacob[?], elected 1996
37. Bertrand Poirot-Delpech[?], elected 1986
38. Pierre-Jean Rémy[?], elected 1988

External link

Académie's website (in French) (http://www.academie-francaise.fr/)