French Science Coup

Following regional elections that were a slap in the face to the French government, President Jacques Chirac in April reshuffled his cabinet—and met the demands of the country’s researchers.

Research institutes in France will now be able to fill 550 new jobs this year, and universities will get 1000 additional positions. Of the many disgruntled sectors of society, protesting researchers were the easiest to satisfy, says physicist Georges Debrégeas, a leader of the “save research” movement (see Physics Today, April 2004, page 28 ). French researchers have called off their administrative strike and rescinded their resignations.

“It’s an amazing victory. We got all the emergency measures we asked for,” says Debrégeas. “Now we are focusing on the debate,” he adds, referring to a plan due at the end of this year that will lay out the budget, job numbers, and other policy issues for science for the next five years.