Scientific research in Monaco has been a tradition for more than
a century. It was initiated by Prince Albert Ist, born 150 years
ago. He explained his involvement and passion for science in these terms:
"I thought that the most captivating study for a worker
with an independent spirit and a love of modern science, would be a study
marking the origin and tracing the living force and its progress through
the ages of our planet …".
It was this same curiosity, this same desire to contribute to an understanding
of the great questions about nature, its diversity and its evolution,
and the same inclination for discovery, that motivated H.R.H. Prince
Rainier III, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, and explains his wish
to create the Scientific centre of Monaco, and so provide the Principality
with possibilities to undertake research and observations in the different
scientific fields.
Speaking on November 16th 1959 during the opening of the First
Scientific Conference of the International Agency for Atomic Energy on
the Elimination of Radioactive Waste, H.R.H. Prince Rainier underlined
the fact that this conference was, in some way, a prolongation of the
work of peace and cooperation between people to which his ancestor, Prince
Albert Ist,"had consecrated His life, by specifically
choosing the scientific domain as an international common ground for cooperation."
Continuing his speech, H.R.H. Prince Rainier III announced the setting
up of new laboratories and declared: "In
this way, the Principality can continue to contribute to its essential
object of peace, health and prosperity for the whole world".
Created in this context, the Scientific centre of Monaco (C.S.M.) received
the mission to develop research towards conservation and protection
of marine life, in cooperation with international and governmental
organizations.
The C.S.M. established a low-level radioactive laboratory directed
by researchers detached from the Atomic energy Commission (C.E.A.). It
also took charge of the meteorological Observatory created by Prince
Albert and developed laboratories for neurobiology and marine pollution
studies.
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