The Carnot family, originating in the village of Épertully (Saône-et-Loire), where it has been present since at least the 15th century...,[1] was for a time Calvinist. Its members held, under the Ancien Régime, from the 16th century, the professions of merchant and notary.[2][3]
In the 19th century, the Carnot family included several notable figures, including the physicist Sadi Carnot (1796–1832),[4]Hippolyte Carnot (1801–1888), Minister of Public Instruction in 1848, who founded the École d'administration to train government administrators,[5] and Sadi Carnot (1837–1894), President of the French Republic under the Third Republic, assassinated.[6]
Today, the Carnot family is represented by Gaëtan Carnot (born 1938) and his family,[7] who created the Fondation Carnot in 1996 to encourage scientific research through scholarships and to preserve the family's memory.[8]
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot, known as Le Grand Carnot (born 13 May 1753 in Nolay, died 2 August 1823 in Magdeburg), multiple times deputy during the French Revolution, voted for the death of King Louis XVI in 1793, member of the Committee of Public Safety (1793–1794) during the War in the Vendée, president of the National Convention (1794). When the Committee of Public Safety decided in 1794 to create a central public works school, he supported and participated in the project that led to the future École Polytechnique with Jacques-Élie Lamblardie[fr] and Gaspard Monge. Threatened with arrest after Thermidor, he was definitively saved on 9 prairial year III (28 May 1795) by François Louis Bourdon or Lanjuinais, who presented him as the one who organized the victory of the Republic's armies.[9] Following them, the Thermidorians claimed he had focused exclusively on military operations within the Committee of Public Safety, attributed the greatest share of the French armies' successes to him, and nicknamed him the "organizer of victory".[10] He later became a director (1795–1797) during the Directory;[9] during the Hundred Days, he was made a general of division, peer of France, and Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Minister of the Interior in 1815.[9] He was created Count Carnot and of the Empire on 20 March 1815, although "General Carnot [...] never used this title of count and did not withdraw the letters patent from the Chancery."[11]Philippe du Puy de Clinchamps[fr] writes that this title appears in the decree appointing Lazare Carnot as Minister of the Interior, but "the letters patent were neither issued nor registered, and there was no creation of a majorat".[12] He authored the work Essai général sur les machines (Paris, 1783).[13][14]
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (born 1 June 1796 in Paris, died 24 August 1832 in Paris), physicist, son of Lazare Carnot and uncle of President Sadi Carnot.[4] In 1824, he scientifically analyzed the efficiency of steam engines and established the second law of thermodynamics.[4][15][16] He published the first two principles of this new science. His work, little understood by his contemporaries, was later popularized by Rudolf Clausius under the name Carnot-Clausius principle. He authored the work Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres à développer cette puissance.[4][17]
Lazare Hippolyte Carnot (born 5 April 1801 in Saint-Omer, died 16 March 1888 in Paris), Minister of Public Instruction in 1848. Founded the École d'administration to train government administrators (short-lived but a precursor to the ENA). He increased teachers' salaries, requiring them to "teach children the virtues of the democratic Republic". In a famous legislative proposal, he was the first to call for compulsory and free primary education for both sexes. Teachers would receive three years of training at a normal school with a guaranteed minimum salary. This proposal was overshadowed by the Falloux Law of 1850, but several of its provisions were later adopted by the Falloux and especially Ferry laws of 1880: Carnot's proposal even included a provision guaranteeing educational freedom. Defeated in the 1849 legislative elections, Carnot regained his seat in a by-election in 1850 and was one of the deputies who opposed the coup d'état of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte on 2 December 1851, refusing to swear allegiance to him. Elected again (as a senator), he died in Paris on 16 March 1888.[5]
Marie Adolphe Carnot (born 27 January 1839 in Paris, died 21 June 1920 in Paris), brother of the president, chemist, geologist, president of the Charente General Council, president of the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry, president of the French Society of Mineralogy and Crystallography, one of the founders of the Democratic Alliance in 1901 and its president until 1920.[20]
The Carnot Foundation, established in 1996 under the aegis of the Fondation de France, awards annual scholarships to students of the École polytechnique and to doctors of science from the University of Burgundy.[27] The foundation also contributes to the publication of books or the dissemination of teachings on scientific research.[27][28]
Burials
President Sadi Carnot has rested at the Panthéon, near his grandfather, since July 1, 1894 (one week after his assassination). He is the only President of the Republic to rest there.[29]
References
↑In this commune, two structures still preserve the memory of this family: the Carnot well and the Carnot cross. Source: Dessertenne, Alain; Geoffray, Françoise (March 2022). "Épertully". Images de Saône-et-Loire (in French) (209): 19–23.
↑Bertaud, Jean-Paul (2005). Title not specified in original (in French). pp.189–191.
↑Robert, Adolphe; Cougny, Gaston (1889). Title not specified in original (in French). pp.583–586.
↑"Fondation Carnot"[Carnot Foundation]. Fondation de France (in French). 13 September 2021. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2025.
↑du Puy de Clinchamps, Philippe (1959). La noblesse[The Nobility]. Que sais-je? (in French). PUF. p.88.
↑Therry Olivier. Lazare Carnot et l'éveil de la vie politique à Aire-sur-la-Lys. In: Revue du Nord, tome 71, n°282–183, Juillet-décembre 1989. La Révolution française au pays de Carnot, Le Bon, Merlin de Douai, Robespierre... pp. 827–833. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/rnord.1989.4482Archived 5 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine persee.fr/doc/rnord_0035-2624_1989_num_71_282_4482
↑Huguet, Françoise (1991). Les professeurs de la faculté de médecine de Paris, Dictionnaire biographique 1794–1939[Professors of the Paris Faculty of Medicine, Biographical Dictionary 1794–1939] (in French). Paris: INRP - CNRS. ISBN2-222-04527-4.
↑"Guadet, Paul (1873–1931). 079 Ifa"[Guadet, Paul (1873–1931). 079 Ifa]. archiwebture.citedelarchitecture.fr (in French). Archived from the original on February 19, 2019. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
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