Prior to the start of the French Revolution, the Baron de Montyon established a series of prizes to be given away by the Académie Française, the Académie des Sciences, and the Académie Nationale de Médecine. These were abolished by the National Convention, but were taken up again when Baron de Montyon returned to France in 1815. When he died, he bequeathed a large sum of money for the perpetual endowment of four annual prizes. The endowed prizes were as follows:
Making an industrial process less unhealthy
Perfecting of any technical improvement in a mechanical process
Book which during the year rendered the greatest service to humanity
The "prix de vertu" for the most courageous act on the part of a poor Frenchman
These prizes were considered by some to be a forerunner of the Nobel Prize.
List of winners
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2008)
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