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Origin and history

The Institut Pasteur is a private non-profit foundation founded in 1888 in Paris, thanks to an international public subscription launched in 1886 after the development of the rabies vaccine by Louis Pasteur in 1885. Inaugurated by President Sadi Carnot on November 14, 1888, he was conceived as a tripartite place: anti-rabic clinic, centre for infectious disease research and school of microbiology. The first buildings, designed by architect Félicien Brébant, house laboratories led by scientists such as Émile Duclaux, Charles Chamberland and Ilya Mechnikov.

Louis Pasteur, founder and first director, defined three missions: to treat rabies, to study micro-organisms and to train researchers. After his death in 1895, he was buried in a crypt decorated with mosaics by Luc-Olivier Merson, in a funeral chapel built by Charles Girault. In 1900, new buildings (offices, greenhouses, hospitals) were added thanks to private donations, including those of Baroness Hirsch. Since 1936, Pasteur's apartment and laboratory have housed a museum.

The institute is rapidly becoming a major player in global medicine. As early as 1889, Émile Roux and Alexandre Yersin developed a treatment for diphtheria. In 1894, Yersin isolated the bacillus from the plague, and in 1921, BCG (TB vaccine) was created in Lille. Ten Nobel laureates are associated with his researchers, including Mechnikov (1908) for his work on immunity and Luc Montagnier (2008) for the discovery of HIV. During World War I, the institute produced 6 million doses of antitetanic serum and developed combat gases such as chloropicrin.

In the 20th century, the institute expanded internationally with a network of 31 institutes, notably in Algeria (1911), Vietnam and China. In 1983, it isolated HIV, marking a major step forward in the fight against AIDS. Despite crises (growth hormone scandal in the 1990s, health incidents in 2016), it remains a pillar of research, with 12 scientific departments and 14 national reference centres. Today led by Yasmine Belkaid, it combines basic research, teaching and vaccine production via Sanofi Pasteur.

The architecture of the institute combines historical heritage and modernity. The buildings of 1888 (classified as Historic Monument in 1981) and those of 1900 (registered) bear witness to its evolution, while the crypt of Pasteur and the museum perpetuate its memory. Funded by public grants, donations and industrial partnerships, the institute organizes Pasteurdon every year to support its research. Its model, combining scientific independence and international collaboration, makes it a symbol of preventive and curative medicine.

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