| 1920 |
Creation of a petroleum laboratory.
The primary role of petroleum-based energy production emerged during World War One. As the Pechelbronn sedimentary basin represented most of French oil production, the advantages of combining the activities of the University of Strasbourg and the advances of a local industry became clear. A petroleum laboratory was created in 1920. Its purpose was to entrust grouped establishments with technical studies on oil, so that chemists, geologists and engineers could coordinate their work and share their experience. The first classes were held at the Institute of Chemistry and were taught by Mr. Muller and Mr. Gault. There were six students from different backgrounds and nationalities. The Pechelbronn company provided financial support. |
| 1922 |
Creation of the Petroleum Institute in Strasbourg, by ministerial decree. The institute had three sections: chemistry, geology and mining. Most of its resources came from a tax charged on each ton of crude oil extracted from the Pechelbronn "mines." In addition, the Strasbourg Chamber of Commerce provided financial support to the students. |
| 1924 |
Creation of the École nationale supérieure du pétrole et des combustibles liquides (higher national school of oil and liquid fuels), by agreement between the University of Strasbourg, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Commerce, and placed under the authority of the latter. The first school director was Henri Gault. It was regulated by two decrees:
- a decree signed by the Ministry of Education, linking the school to the Strasbourg University of Science from a scientific and academic standpoint: for the first time, in addition to its training assignment, an engineering school was made responsible for promoting and fostering scientific research,
- another decree entrusting administration of the school to a director, assisted by a board of directors chaired by the director of the National Bureau of Liquid Fuels (recently founded in order to give France a general oil policy). This structure gave the new school possibilities for action that were much greater than those of a regular university.
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| 1925 |
Official inauguration of the new ENSPCL building at the University of Strasbourg.
For the first 15 years of its existence, the school attracted students and researchers from all over Europe, especially such men as Hugel, Weiss, Louis, Salomon (works for the International Electrotechnical Commission), Jung (geology), Schneegans, Vlès, Vellinger and others. |
| 1930 |
The highly conventional structure of the school was no longer suited to the increasing number and growing urgency of the works expected of it. Discussions began on creating a national oil institute. |
| 1931 |
Creation of the École des applications mécaniques des combustibles liquides (EAMCL), the school of mechanical applications for liquid fuels, headed by the engineer general Paul Dumanois, in the premises of the Higher School of Aeronautics, on Boulevard Victor in Paris. |
| 1936 |
The name of EAMCL was changed to the École nationale des moteurs à combustion et à explosion (national school of combustion and ignition engines). |
| 1939 |
On September 1, 1939, the residents of the University of Strasbourg are given 24 hours to pack their bags and find a home somewhere else in France. The university is moved to Clermont-Ferrand, in the buildings of the Chemistry and Industrial Technology Institute. |
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