Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Members of the Académie Française

The Académie Française (French pronunciation: ​[akademi fʁɑ̃sɛːz]), also known as the French Academy, is the principal French council for matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it was restored as a division of the Institut de France in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

6 episodes

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CultureHistoryPhilosophyScienceFellows of the Royal SocietyOntologistsFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesPhilosophers of mindTheorists on Western civilizationWriters about activism and social changeMetaphysiciansPhilosophers of religionEnlightenment philosophersMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyAge of EnlightenmentRecipients of the Copley MedalWriters about religion and scienceAtheist philosophersPhilosophers of law20th-century atheistsMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesPhilosophers of social science18th-century philosophersForeign associates of the National Academy of SciencesJewish philosophersMetaphilosophersUniversity of Paris alumniWriters from Paris20th-century French philosophersFrench Roman CatholicsFrench atheistsFrench political philosophersHonorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesNatural law ethicistsLiteracy and society theoristsMembers of the French Academy of SciencesPhilosophers of language20th-century essayistsFrench philosophers of educationFrench philosophers of scienceTheoretical historiansFrench male non-fiction writersFrench philosophers of cultureFrench philosophers of historyMembers of the Prussian Academy of SciencesMetaphysics writersPhenomenologistsRationalistsWriters about globalizationÉcole Normale Supérieure alumni19th-century French philosophersCritical theoristsForeign members of the Royal SocietyFrench epistemologistsFrench feministsFrench sociologistsHistorians of the French RevolutionScholars of feminist philosophy18th-century French male writers18th-century French mathematicians18th-century French philosophers18th-century French writersAcademic staff of the Collège de FranceBurials at the Panthéon, ParisContributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)DeterministsFrench deistsFrench physicistsGrand Cross of the Legion of HonourIntellectual historyJewish atheistsKnights of the Legion of HonourLycée Condorcet alumniMembers of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsPhilosophers of linguistics19th-century French chemists19th-century French male writers20th-century French male writers20th-century French memoiristsCorresponding fellows of the British AcademyDeputies to the French National ConventionEconomic sociologistsFrench abolitionistsFrench agnosticsFrench biographers, French ethicistsFrench essayistsFrench fluid dynamicists, French mathematicians, French probability theoristsFrench political scientistsFrench political writersFrench scientists with disabilitiesGrand Officers of the Legion of HonourJewish historiansLinear algebraistsLinguists from FrancePeople killed in the French RevolutionProto-feministsRecipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st classThe New School facultyVoting theoristsWriters about communism
  1. Condorcet

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential French philosopher and mathematician who tried to apply his Enlightenment ideas on the benefit of education to the French Revolution.

    11 January 2024

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    Featuring: Rachel Hammersley, Richard Whatmore, Tom Hopkins

     
  2. Louis Pasteur

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Louis Pasteur, microbiologist, developer of vaccines, saviour of the French beer and wine industries and preserver of milk.

    18 May 2017

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    Featuring: Andrew Mendelsohn, Anne Hardy, Michael Worboys

     
  3. Lévi-Strauss

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss.

    23 May 2013

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    Featuring: Adam Kuper, Christina Howells, Vincent Debaene

     
  4. Montesquieu

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of the French political philosopher (1689-1755) whose work on liberty and republicanism, banned at home, influenced the US constitution.

    14 June 2018

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    Featuring: Richard Bourke, Rachel Hammersley, Richard Whatmore

     
  5. Pierre-Simon Laplace

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great French mathematician who tackled questions on the stability of the Solar System and planet rotation and devised the basis for metrication

    8 April 2021

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    Featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Timothy Gowers, Colva Roney-Dougal

     
  6. Tocqueville: Democracy in America

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexis de Tocqueville and his study of the American democratic system, written as an example to France of how democracy might develop there.

    22 March 2018

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    Featuring: Robert Gildea, Susan-Mary Grant, Jeremy Jennings