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The author focuses on research into the role that well-educated elites played in enabling technological and scientific creativity during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century. He mentions a paper by M. P. Squicciarini and N. Voigtlander examining the number of people who subscribed to the "Grande Encyclopédie" published in 1777-1778 and economic development in French cities where subscribers lived. He commented on the role of elites in the early stages of industrialization.

The article discusses France's former science minister Claude Allègre and his criticism of climate research and the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It notes a letter sent to existing French science minister Valérie Pécresse by a group of French scientists that asks for an expression of support for French climate science. Allègre's book "L'imposture climatique" or "The Climate Fraud" also is noted for a misrepresentation of climate data originally documented in a paper by paleoclimatologist Håkan Grudd.

Reports on efforts in France to reshape science education through a focus on primary and secondary education, higher education, and research and development. (DDR)