@ARTICLE{10.21494/ISTE.OP.2019.0407, 

TITLE={The Development of Fuel Cell Research in France at the End of the 1950s: Analysis of the Historical Construction of a Technological Enthusiasm}, 
  
AUTHOR={Nicolas Simoncini, }, 
	
JOURNAL={Technology and Innovation}, 
	
VOLUME={4}, 

NUMBER={Issue 4}, 
	
YEAR={2019}, 

URL={http://www.openscience.fr/The-Development-of-Fuel-Cell-Research-in-France-at-the-End-of-the-1950s}, 
	
DOI={10.21494/ISTE.OP.2019.0407}, 
	
ISSN={2399-8571}, 
	
ABSTRACT={Using archival research, this paper analyzes the causes and conditions that led to the development of fuel cells in France at the end of the 1950s. There were many contributing factors: the break with the research previously conducted in Europe from the 19th Century to the 1930s, led by the English engineer Francis T. Bacon; the rise of energy self-sufficiency concerns following the Second World War; fears of losing a strategic scientific and technological advantage over other nations; and the increasing role of the French state in the orientation of science and technology. The institutionalization of the relation between the military, academic and industrial sectors also created a thought collective and a social network which shaped fuel cell research.}}