The European Capital
With its charming character, Strasbourg offers a lively environment throughout the year. Located in the middle of Europe, Strasbourg is highly international. Indeed, it is the seat of several supranational institutions, including the European Parliament. The center of Strasbourg is entirely a UNESCO site and the city has about 280 thousand inhabitants. The urban area is surrounded by greenery and extends across the river Rhine to Germany, totaling about one million people. The region of Strasbourg, Alsace – the germanic region of France – offers a rich natural and cultural heritage, which includes a longstanding tradition of wine production.
Science and Chemistry in Strasbourg
Strasbourg offers a lively scientific environment, having 17 research units (institutes), 7 of which focusing on chemical research. ISIS is one of these research units. This network of research centers is tightly interconnected via the University of Strasbourg. Founded in the 17th century, Unistra has been home to 18 Nobel prizes and one Fields medal. Chemistry has a strong tradition in Strasbourg, to the point that the historical evolution of Strasbourg Chemistry was the topic of a review in Chem. Soc. Rev (2011, 40, 2061) Today the university has about 50 thousand students, 20% being international, and regularly obtains excellent evaluations in international rankings.
Supramolecular Chemistry
The stronghold of Strasbourg science is supramolecular chemistry, the “chemistry beyond the molecule”. Indeed Strasbourg has been home to many excellent scientists in the field, including Jean-Marie Lehn and Jean-Pierre Sauvage, who got the Nobel prize for their contribution to supramolecular chemistry and molecular machines, respectively. The relevance of supramolecular chemistry in Strasbourg is reflected by the presence of ISIS – Institut de Science et d’Ingénierie Supramoléculaires, the Cluster of Excellence “Chemistry of Complex Systems”, and the Graduate School in Complex Systems Chemistry.
A bird view on the campus is available here.