Paris-Sud University
Paris-Sud University (French: "Université Paris-Sud"), also known as University of Paris — XI, was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, including Orsay, Cachan, Châtenay-Malabry, Sceaux, and Kremlin-Bicêtre campuses. The main campus was located in Orsay. Starting from 2020, University Paris Sud has been replaced by the University of Paris-Saclay. Paris-Sud was one of the largest and most prestigious universities in France, particularly in science and mathematics. The university was ranked 1st in France, 9th in Europe and 37th worldwide by 2019 Academic Ranking of  World Universities (ARWU) in particular it was ranked as 1st in Europe for physics and 2nd in Europe for mathematics. Five Fields Medalists and two Nobel Prize Winners have been affiliated to the university. On 16 January 2019, Alain Sarfati was elected President of Université Paris-Sud. He succeeds Sylvie Retailleau who was elected as President of ComUE Université Paris-Saclay. History. Paris-Sud was originally part of the University of Paris, which was subsequently split into several universities. After World War II, the rapid growth of nuclear physics and chemistry meant that research needed more and more powerful accelerators , which required large areas. The Université de Paris, the École Normale Supérieure and the Collège de France looked for space in the south of Paris near Orsay. Later some of the teaching activity of the Faculty of Sciences in Paris was transferred to Orsay. The rapid increase of students led to the independence of the Orsay Center on March 1, 1965. It hosted a great number of laboratories on its large (236 ha) campus. Many of the top French laboratories were among them especially in particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, atomic physics and molecular physics, condensed matter physics, theoretical physics , electronics, nanoscience and nanotechnology. University of Paris-Sud comprised some 104 research units. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes and Albert Fert, two Nobel Prize winners of physics, were affiliated to the University of Paris-Sud. A number of most renowned French mathematicians were affiliated to the University of Paris-Sud as well. Among them are the Fields medalists Pierre Deligne, Laurent Lafforgue, Jean-Christophe Yoccoz, Wendelin Werner and Ngô Bảo Châu. Paris-Sud also comprised biology and chemistry laboratories, engineering and technology schools and had established partnerships with many of the surrounding technology centres and Grandes Ecoles. It also included Schools  of Law, Economics and Management.