The École nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris (also known as École des Mines de Paris, ENSMP, les Mines, Mines Paris) is one of the French generalist and most prominent engineering Grandes Ecoles. The grandes écoles (French for great schools) of France are higher education establishments outside of the mainstream framework of the public universities. ...

Despite its small size (120 students in a year), it is very famous in French industry.

Created in 1783 on the request of King Louis XVI in order to train "intelligent directors of mines" the École des Mines has settled in the Hôtel de Vendôme (all along the Jardin du Luxembourg in the 6th arrondissement of Paris). It also has annexes in Fontainebleau, Évry and Sophia-Antipolis (Nice). 1783 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Louis XVI Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 - January 21, 1793), was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. ... The Luxembourg Garden (Jardin du Luxembourg, familiar nickname Luco) is a 224,500 m2 public park in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Fontainebleau is a city and commune about 50 km south of Paris, France. ... Sophia Antipolis is a technology park north-west of Nice, France. ... This article is about the city. ...

Its former vocation to train mining engineers evolved in the course of time, because of technological progress and transformations of society. ENSMP has become nowadays a "generalist" school, with a broad variety of disciplines. Its students are for the most part supposed to have management position in industrial companies and receive a good training not only in technical fields but also in economics and social sciences. (e.g. a sociology course by Bruno Latour) Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups and societies. ... Bruno Latour (born 1947, Beaune, France) is a French sociologist of science best known for his books We Have Never Been Modern, Laboratory Life, and Science in Action, describing the process of scientific research from the perspective of social construction based on field observations of working scientists. ...

It is an application school of École Polytechnique, and provides education for the Corps of Mines. The cadets of Polytechnique rushed to the defense of Paris against the foreign armies in 1814. ... The Corps of Mines is the foremost of the great technical corps of the French state. ...

Two of its alumni have got a Nobel Prize : The Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell) are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. ...

• Maurice Allais, Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
• Georges Charpak, Nobel Prize in physics

Other écoles des Mines include: Maurice Allais (born May 31, 1911) was the 1988 winner of The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources. ... The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (Swe. ... Georges Charpak (born August 1, 1924) is a noted physicist. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ...

• École nationale supérieure des Mines de Nancy;
• École nationale supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne.

External link

• Site of the École nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris (http://www.ensmp.fr)