Preparing the 21st Century: the French plan in marine science and technology

Oceanography originated from the first deep-sea soundings completed in 1858 for the purpose of laying the first telegraph cable between Europe and the United States of America. Shortly after, the first oceanographic research works were conducted; let's mention more particularly Challenger scientific expedition, Prince Albert of Monaco cruises and those performed by Alexander Agazziz in the United States of America. All these studies aimed at answering the two great questions the scientific community was then faced with: down to what depth can life be found\ulcorner Are abyssal depths a shelter for species of the secondary era\ulcorner The first expeditions caused an international craze of the occidental countries, which contributed to creating, at the beginning of the XXth century, the first marine stations, in the United States and in Europe. Until the second world war oceanography was above all turned on biology and coastal works. The point mainly consisted in drawing up an inventory of the marine animals and develop studies so as to improve Fisheries industry. Keeping within this scope, in 1923 France established in Vietnam the first oceanographic institute of south-east Asia. The outbreak of submarine acoustics and the works conducted during the second world war towards the landing of the allied forces contributed to revive the interest for oceanography. In 1957 and 1958, scientists from many countries were involved in an international unprecedented research programme which was going to radically modify our acquirements. It is known as the International Geophysics Year. This grand international programme enabled to establish the first map of the sea floor, with its ridges and faults. On account of these discoveries, both French and American launch some new programmes dedicated to marine technology. The French programme bears on building two new bathyscaphs: FNRS III, then Archimede which will set up a record by diving 9,545 m in Kuril Trench, North of Japan. Also as a consequence of the International Geophysics Year, several countries amongst which France, each start building a fleet of civilian oceanographic vessels. The further step in marine technology, with the first boreholes by great depths completed by Glomar Challenger, is a milestone for the 60's. It thus becomes possible to understand the history of the ocean floor and validate the recent theory of plates tectonic which revolutionizes our knowledge as regards Geology. The research studies conducted in France on marine geosciences have made great strides thanks to Xavier Le Pichon, one of the founders of the above mentioned theory. The most recent technological revolution as a matter of oceanography was achieved in 1978, with the launching of the American oceanographic satellite, Seasat. Owing to its capabilities of survey over vast oceanic zones whatever the weather, satellite is the tool privileged for global studies, at regional or planetary scale. As regards France the use of such an expensive tool can only be justified on the grounds of European research policy― which is the case of ERS 1 and ERS 2 satellites ―, or in the frame of cooperations such as that conducted with the United States on Topex-Poseidon project. Acquiring this technology met the needs of the ever growing scientific community. During the years following the International Geophysics Year, the junior scientists were all assigned to fundamental research works, in university laboratories and at the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research). At the end of the 60's, many events― such as the discovery of significant oilfields, the uncertainty about raw material resources, food or water to face population explosion― led to consider the possibility of exploiting the ocean resources. Several countries thus created bodies of applied research which are now renowned, for instance the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration), the JAMSTEC (Japan Marine Science and Technology Centre), the KORDI(Korean Research and Development Institute), and of course IFREMER(French Research Institute for the exploitation of the sea) whose works complete the more fundamental research works conducted by university teams. During the last thirty years the French scientific community grew fifteen times bigger, going up from around 200 to 3,000 scientists.