Scientific Mobilization

France's scientific community mobilized completely. The Academy of Sciences became adjunct to military planning. Mathematicians calculated trajectories, physicists designed detection equipment, chemists synthesized explosives. Paul Langevin developed ultrasonic submarine detection. Jean Perrin researched sound ranging. Charles Fabry improved optical instruments.

Universities transformed into research centers. The Sorbonne's laboratories produced poison gases. The École Normale Supérieure developed communications equipment. Provincial universities specialized—Lyon in chemicals, Grenoble in hydroelectricity, Toulouse in aviation.

This mobilization had lasting effects. Scientists accustomed to military funding expected continued support postwar. Research became increasingly applied rather than theoretical. The partnership between science and state, forged in war, permanently altered French scientific culture.