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École normale supérieure (Paris)
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<p>The École normale supérieure – PSL is a <i><a href="/facts/Grande_%25C3%25A9cole/WurCHwXN">grande école</a></i> in <a href="/facts/Paris/DrNHpwnA">Paris</a>, <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a>. It is one of the constituent members of <a href="/facts/Paris_Sciences_et_Lettres_University/RU5csCTS">Paris Sciences et Lettres University</a> (PSL). Its pupils, predominantly postgraduate students, generally have considerable freedom to structure their own curriculum and learning. Its pupils are generally referred to as <i>normaliens</i>, while its alumni are generally referred to as <a href="/facts/List_of_%25C3%2589cole_normale_sup%25C3%25A9rieure_people/ENAL6tho"><i>archicubes</i></a>. </p><p>The school was founded in 1794 during the <a href="/facts/French_Revolution/PIkDlrC0">French Revolution</a>, to provide homogeneous training of high-school <a href="/facts/Teacher/5zkjcWo8">teachers</a> in France, but it later closed. The school was subsequently reestablished by <a href="/facts/Napoleon_I/8TKBIjPM">Napoleon I</a> as <i>pensionnat normal</i> from 1808 to 1822, before being recreated in 1826 and taking the name École normale in 1830. When institutes for primary teachers training called <i>écoles normales</i> were created in 1845, the word <i>supérieure</i> (meaning upper) was added to form the current name. In 1936, the institution started providing university-level education. </p><p>As a <i>grande école</i>, the vast majority of the academic staff hosted at the ENS belong to external institutions such as <a href="/facts/List_of_universities_and_higher_education_institutions_in_the_Paris_region/nelXWmE0">one of the Parisian universities</a>, the <a href="/facts/CNRS/z8RBcY1j">CNRS</a> and the <a href="/facts/EHESS/yTDo6KIb">EHESS</a>. Generalistic in its recruitment and organisation, the ENS is the only <i>grande école</i> in France to have departments of research in all the natural, social, and human sciences. </p><p>Its <a href="/facts/List_of_%25C3%2589cole_Normale_Sup%25C3%25A9rieure_people/ENAL6tho">alumni</a> include 14 <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize/3z1Y3oFL">Nobel Prize</a> laureates, of which 8 are in <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics/o6w1nCbr">Physics</a>, 12 <a href="/facts/Fields_medal/khFmkEnm">Fields Medalists</a>, more than half the recipients of the <a href="/facts/CNRS/z8RBcY1j">CNRS</a>'s <a href="/facts/CNRS_Gold_medal/UccPMgIb">Gold Medal</a>, several hundred members of the <a href="/facts/Institut_de_France/jrre6kaI">Institut de France</a>, as well as several French and foreign politicians and statespeople. </p>