Grenoble
Grenoble is an extremely cosmopolitan city, which is mostly due to the strong geographical mobility of its important population of scientists, 80% of Grenoble citizens are indeed not even originating from Dauphine.
With its history spanning overf 2000 years, a population of the city of >156 000 citizens and >600 000 including the metropolitan area, Grenoble is the 16th city of France and known as the "Capital of the Alps". The old academic tradition of Grenoble dates from the foundation of its University in 1339. Grenoble has a strong scientifc background and became one of the major european scientific centers.
With +60 000 students and 21 000 researchers, whom more than 10 000 are located at the so called "Polygone scientifique" where I work, Grenoble is a very dynamic city both for youngsters and scientifically speaking. It is the first french city in numbers of reserach jobs with 7.1% of the population working in R&D. It has been ranked 5th most innovant city in the world by Forbes, in terms of patents deposited per capita. Grenoble has also been ranked 1st in the 2013-2014 ranking of French cities where it feels good to study and remained in the top 5 since then. With 13 doctoral schools gathered in a "College" managing 3700 PhD students, Grenoble has a strong dedication to high level education.
Shaped by great scientists who played important roles in Grenoble such as J. Fourier (inventor of the Fourier series and transform or concepts such as the greenhouse effect) or J.F. Champollion (decipherer of the Egyptian hieroglyphs) but also a bunch of Nobel prizes such as R. Mössbauer (discoverer of the effect of absorption of γ-rays by nuclei), K. von Klitzing (discoverer of the quantum Hall effect), L. Néel (discoverer of the (anti)ferromagnetism) or A. Fert (discoverer of the Giant magnetoresistance). Let also cite J. Sifakis, one of the two French persons having been awarded the Turing Price (equivalent of the Nobel Price for computer sciences).
Grenoble being a very young, active and science-oriented city, is one of the 34 awardees (over 271 cities) of the 2014 "5 arobases": highest recognition of French cities particularly well connected to the Internet for citizens and obtains this ranking every year since then.
The Grenoble region is the birthplace of many important artists such as H. Berlioz or Stendhal, but also historical figures such as Bayard (known as "the knight without fear and beyond reproach"), J. Vaucanson (inventor of the first automated loom).
The Grenoble area is also the birthplace of many known :
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musicians such as M. Fugain, Calogéro, Miss Kittin, Sinsemilia, Anaïs, G. Poncelet, Jeff Le Nerf...
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actors such as J.P. Castaldi, R. Quenard, P. Louange, M. Révol...
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major businessmen such as J.M. Messier, M. Bon...
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journalists such as L. Luyat, M. Theuriau, P. Vandel, T. Baumann...
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comedians such as R. Magdane, W. Dia, Mister V...
A lot of industries and startups are blooming in the region and many National famous entreprises were born there such as Lustucru, Cémoi, Antésite, Teisseire, Glénat, Rossignol, Go-Sport, Euromaster...
Very well known in France as a golden place for ski and mountain sports, Grenoble welcome the Olympic Games in 1968. This event represent the first modern Olympic Games where the Grenoble citizen Henri Didon invented the new motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" . It is also the first time that lap times were displayed in direct on TV and the first French TV broadcast.
Grenoble remains profoundly attached to Human welfare, healthcare and globally a good standard of living for its citizens. This is for example where French Child benefits (Allocations Familliales) have been invented by a factory director and the native town for the first family planning in France in 1961. Today, the city remains the 1st town ranked in France and 2nd in Europe regarding disabled accessibility, Being the flattest town of France (although surrounded by high snowy moutains), the city is extremely bicycle-friendly and its network of public transport is very efficient.
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