About the archives

The
« Journal de Physique » Archive
1872 – 1997

Why an archive ?

The Journal de Physique was created in 1872 by Charles d’Almeida « to breath new life into physics », « to invigorate teaching, to stimulate the spirit of research and provoke new discoveries ».

These objectives, though written in a somewhat old-fashioned manner, are still valid and could well be recited today.

More than 130 years on, the creators of the journal have achieved their objectives. France is today, in spite of some short-term difficulties, a leading scientific nation that has enriched the scientific patrimony of the world thanks to the efforts of its many generations of scientific researchers.

The journal has hence supported a rich and varied adventure with a content and format that has changed significantly over the years.

The finest French Physicists and many overseas researchers have published their findings in its pages, remarkable works have also been printed over the years, and it is not by accident that the journal is still active after so much time.

The creation of this on-line archive is in tune with current tendencies whereby the printed form of a journal is not considered as the primary reading source but more an archive in itself !! Researchers are more inclined to read scientific articles on their computer screens, printing a copy locally if required, rather than pay a visit to the in-house library.

For the historian of science, the archive provides an easy to use mine of information concerning the manner in which physics has been presented since 1872. It counts more than 300,000 pages in over 48,500 articles and represents a true scientific « monument », produced since 1872, within which the great names of physics may be found.

Above all, and perhaps most importantly, the archive will incorporate an index system for English key words, allowing English-speaking users to find articles via standard bibliographical search engines. The journal will hence open its doors to a vast international community.

Making available this extensive collection of articles will, on the one hand respect the wishes of its authors to best distribute their findings, and on the other, allow current active authors to give a new lease of life to their articles and promote the value of their work.