Inventors helping workers: the Montyon Prize for Insalubrious Arts (1782-1871)

At the end of the eighteenth century, the French Académie des Sciences created the Prix des Arts Insalubres, a unique competition in the universe of academic prizes, which rewarded inventors who helped improve working conditions for workers. Interrupted during the Revolution but resumed in 1825, the competition, renamed the Montyon Prize for Insalubrious Arts, was an original melting pot of doctors, chemists, manufacturers and engineers. The Academy’s aim was to be practical, and it only rewarded inventions that could be used in industry. It therefore conjured up a special figure, that of the inventor. This paper looks at the profile of inventors, their view of what “insalubrity” meant, and how they presented themselves in their candidacy letters. Initially, a large number of applicants were physicians working in public health, but from the mid-1830s onwards, they were supplanted by men from the field of technology, before once again taking an interest in the prize. They all shared a positivist faith in science, and often took a philanthropic approach that saw technical progress as a way of helping workers.