Un grand homme dans le petit monde des grandes écoles

The research published in this present issue of the electronic review In Situ results from a series of papers discussed in a workshop of the LAHIC laboratory devoted to the question of how Pasteur came to be seen as a scientific hero. Within this programme we were particularly interested in looking at how Pasteur was represented in the world of higher learning in Paris. Pasteur was very much a part of this world before becoming one of its most illustrious representatives and, as such, was the object of numerous representations in the faculties and ‘grandes écoles’ in Paris. Exceptionally, he was associated with about ten of these institutions; most of the outstanding scientific figures of his time were connected to only one or at most two such institutions. So Pasteur’s features were familiar both in the corridors of the Sorbonne and in the gardens of the Ecole normale supérieure. Exploring the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in search of Pasteur’s image gives us information not only on how this eminent man of science was represented but also on the relations between the different institutions he frequented. Largely monopolised by ‘normaliens’ and by men of science, Pasteur is surprisingly absent from the world of medicine, even though the medical faculty is but a stone’s throw from the Sorbonne