French Academy is a French organization of intellectuals. It is called L’Académie Française in French. Its activities include awarding literary prizes and publishing a dictionary of the French language.
The academy has 40 members, known as the Forty Immortals. Once elected, they are members for life. Most are writers, but others have been scientists, sociologists, philosophers, and doctors. In general, a seat in the academy becomes vacant only when a member dies. Individuals who wish to be considered for membership contact academy members to declare their candidacy. The members vote on which person to accept. Until 1894, all members were French-born male citizens of France. Since then, the academy has included men and women of other nationalities who write in French.
Cardinal Richelieu, a French statesman, founded the French Academy in 1635. It was suppressed in 1793, during the French Revolution. Napoleon I reorganized the academy in 1803 as part of the Institute of France, a group of learned societies that are supported by the government.
