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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 (minister of Louis XIII) expanded it into a national academy for the artistic elite.
The Académie, located in Paris, is the French official authority on usage, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendations carry no legal power and are even sometimes disregarded by governmental authorities. 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 "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 Lévi-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
- René Rémond, elected 1998
- Hector Bianciotti, elected 1996
- Jean-Denis Bredin, elected 1989
- Jean-Marie Lustiger, elected 1995
- vacant
- Marc Fumaroli, elected 1995
- Jacqueline Worms de Romilly, elected 1988
- Michel Déon, elected 1978
- Alain Decaux, elected 1979
- Florence Delay, elected 2000
- Gabriel de Broglie, elected 2001
- Jean d'Ormesson, elected 1973
- Pierre Messmer, elected 1999
- Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, elected 1990
- Frédéric Vitoux, elected 2001
- Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, elected 2003
- Érik Orsenna, elected 1998
- Michel Serres, elected 1990
- Pierre Moinot, elected 1982
- Angelo Rinaldi, elected 2001
- Félicien Marceau, elected 1975
- René de Obaldia, elected 1999
- Pierre Rosenberg, elected 1995
- Jean-François Revel, elected 1997
- Jean Bernard, elected 1975
- Jean-Marie Rouart, elected 1997
- Pierre Nora, elected 2001
- Henri Troyat, elected 1959
- Claude Lévi-Strauss, elected 1973
- Maurice Druon, elected 1966
- Jean Dutourd, elected 1978
- Maurice Rheims, elected 1976
- Michel Mohrt, elected 1985
- François Cheng, elected 2002
- Yves Pouliquen, elected 2001
- Jean-François Deniau, elected 1992
- Robert-Ambroise-Marie Carré, elected 1975
- François Jacob, elected 1996
- Bertrand Poirot-Delpech, elected 1986
- Pierre-Jean Rémy, elected 1988