The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research) is a government-funded research organisation, under the administrative authority of France’s Ministry of Research. CNRS’s annual budget represents a quarter of French public spending on civilian research. As the largest fundamental research organisation in Europe, CNRS carried out research in almost all fields of knowledge, through its eight research institutes: Mathematics (INSMI), Physics (INP), Chemistry (INC); Biological Sciences (INSB); Humanities and Social Sciences (INSHS); Ecology and Environment (INEE); Engineering and Systems (INSIS); Information Sciences (INS2I); and its two national institutes: The National Institute of Earth Sciences and Astronomy (INSU); and the National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics (IN2P3).