École Centrale Paris facts for kids
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| Motto | Leader, Entrepreneur, Innovateur |
|---|---|
| Type | Public, Grand établissement |
| Active | 1829–2015 |
| President | Hervé Biausser |
| Postgraduates | 2,505 (1,789 engineer candidates) |
| 223 | |
| Location |
,
France
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| Affiliations | University of Paris-Saclay, Centrale Graduate School, TIME, CESAER, UniverSud Paris |
École Centrale Paris (also called ECP or Centrale) was a famous French engineering and science school. Its full name was École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures.
This school was one of the most respected and hardest to get into. It was founded in 1829, during the time of the Industrial Revolution. It helped train many top engineers and business leaders in France.
Over the years, its way of teaching engineers became a model for other schools around the world. This included schools in Switzerland, Belgium, and other "Centrale" schools in places like Morocco, China, and India. In 2015, École Centrale Paris joined with Supélec to create a new school called CentraleSupélec. This new school is part of the University of Paris-Saclay.
Contents
History
"Between 1832 and 1870, the Central School of Arts and Manufactures produced 3,000 engineers, and served as a model for most of the industrialized countries."
The school was started in 1829 by Alphonse Lavallée. He was a lawyer and a successful businessman. He used a lot of his own money to start the school. Three important scientists, Eugène Peclet, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and Théodore Olivier, helped him.
The main idea behind École Centrale was to train engineers who knew many different things. They would be like "doctors for factories and mills." This was important because France needed new engineers to help its industries grow. Most other engineering schools at the time trained students for government jobs.
The school first had different locations in Paris. One was the Hotel Salé, which is now the Picasso Museum. Lavallée was the school's first president.
In 1857, Lavallée gave the school to the French government. This was to make sure the school would last a long time. For a while, it was called École Impériale des Arts et Manufactures.
In 1862, students who finished the school got a special engineering degree. It was called 'ingénieur des arts et manufactures'. This was the first degree of its kind in France.
In 1969, the school moved to a new campus in Châtenay-Malabry. The new campus was opened by President Georges Pompidou. In 2015, the school merged with Supélec to form CentraleSupélec. The new main campus for CentraleSupélec is in Gif-sur-Yvette, near Paris.
Partnerships
École Centrale Paris was part of a group of "Centrale" schools. This network included sister schools in Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Beijing, Hyderabad (India), and Casablanca (Morocco).
Since 1837, the school worked with many top universities around the world. They had programs for double degrees, student exchanges, and shared research. Some of these universities included California Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University.
The school was also a founding member of the TIME network. This group connects top engineering schools in Europe. It was also a member of other European engineering school associations.
Campus
The school's first home was in the Hôtel de Juigné (now the Musée Picasso). Then, in 1884, it moved to rue Montgolfier, where it stayed until 1969.
The school's last location was in Châtenay-Malabry, a suburb south of Paris. It was next to the beautiful Parc de Sceaux. At this campus, ECP had eight different laboratories. These labs studied things like energy, engineering, and materials.
Most of the 2000 students at École Centrale Paris lived in special student homes on campus. These homes were close to the research labs and easy to reach by public transport.
After the school merged with Supelec to form CentraleSupelec, the campus started moving. It is now moving from Chatenay-Malabry to Gif-sur-Yvette.
Admission
Most French students who got into École Centrale Paris had first studied for 2 or 3 years after high school. This special study was called classes préparatoires or prépas. These programs are very hard and only accept the top 10% of high school graduates in France each year.
Students take a difficult entrance exam to get into schools like École Centrale Paris. They take this exam at the end of their second year in prépas. For example, in 2016, École Centrale Paris accepted only the top 4% of candidates from prépas. This was for about 400 students.
About 50 international students from top universities also joined each year. They went through a similar tough selection process. International students were first chosen by their home universities. They needed high grades and extra training in subjects like math and science. They also had to take written and oral exams. Their application included letters from professors, a list of their achievements, and a letter explaining why they wanted to join.
Finally, a few spots were saved for French university graduates. These were students who had done very well in a 3-year bachelor's degree program.
Curriculum
The main engineering program at Centrale taught many different subjects. It usually lasted between 3 and 4 years. The courses were similar to those at other general engineering schools. All classes were taught in French or English.
In the first year, students took "Common Core" classes. These included science (like math and physics), engineering (like programming), and social sciences (like economics and languages). In the second year, students could choose some elective courses. But they still focused a lot on science. The first two years also trained students in research and industry projects.
In the third year, students could choose to specialize in a certain area. This depended on what they were interested in for their future jobs. When they graduated, students received the Diplôme d'Ingénieur. This degree is like a Master of Science degree. They also got the title of Ingénieur diplômé, often called Ingénieur centralien.
The Graduate School
The school also offered many special master's programs. These programs in science and engineering lasted one or two years.
It also had different PhD programs for students who already had a master's degree. More than 200 students working on their PhDs were in the school's eight laboratories.
Alumni
Many famous people graduated from Ecole Centrale Paris. They are often called Centraliens or Pistons. This name refers to the piston engine, which was a key invention during the French industrial revolution.
Here are some notable alumni:
- Norbert Rillieux (1830) – invented a better way to make sugar.
- Gustave Eiffel (1855) – designed the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris and the inside structure of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
- William Le Baron Jenney (1856) – designed the first building with a steel frame in Chicago.
- Georges Leclanché (1860) – invented a type of battery called the Leclanché cell.
- Émile Levassor and René Panhard (1864) – started one of the very first car manufacturing companies, Panhard et Levassor.
- André Michelin (1877) – founded the tire company Michelin.
- Louis Blériot (1895) – was a pioneer in aviation and the first pilot to fly across the English Channel.
- Armand Peugeot (1895) – founded the car company Peugeot.
- Solomon Lefschetz (1905) – a famous American mathematician.
- Pierre-Georges Latécoère (1906) – a pioneer in aviation who founded companies that later became Air France.
- Marcel Schlumberger (1907) – co-founded Schlumberger Limited, a big oilfield services company.
- Boris Vian (1942) – a well-known French writer.
- Francis Bouygues (1947) – founded Bouygues, a large construction and media group.
- Gérard Pélisson (1955) – founded the Accor group, which owns many hotels like Novotel and Sofitel.
- Antoine (1966) – a famous French singer and navigator.
- Henri Gouraud (1967) – a computer scientist known for "Gouraud shading" in computer graphics.
- Benoît Potier (1979) – CEO of Air Liquide, a company that makes industrial gases.
- Bernard Liautaud (1984) – founded Business Objects, a software company.
- Édouard Michelin (born 1963) (1987) – former CEO of Michelin.
- Stephane Bancel (1995) – CEO of Moderna, a biotechnology company.
- Jean-Baptiste Kempf (2006) – created VLC media player, a popular media player.
Notable faculty
Here are some important teachers and researchers who worked at École Centrale Paris:
- Paul Appell – a mathematician.
- Raymond Barre – an economist and former French prime minister.
- Sébastien Candel – a physicist and Vice President of the French Academy of Sciences.
- Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis – a physicist, famous for the Coriolis effect (which explains how rotating objects affect moving things, like winds).
- Jean-Baptiste Dumas – a chemist known for his work on atomic weights.
- Jacques Hadamard – a mathematician.
- Étienne Klein – a physicist and philosopher of science.
- Joseph Liouville – a mathematician.
- Anselme Payen – a chemist who discovered the first enzyme.
- Eugène Péclet – a physicist, known for the Péclet number (used in heat transfer).
- Émile Picard – a mathematician.
Images for kids
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Old building of École Centrale, rue Montgolfier
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Another view of the old building
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The entrance to the former school building
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A closer look at the old building's architecture
See also
In Spanish: École centrale Paris para niños
- Centrale-Supélec Career Fair
- Education in France
