Solvay Institute of Sociology

The Solvay Institute of Sociology [SIS; Institut de Sociologie Solvay] assumed its first “definitive form” (Solvay 1902/1906: 26) on November 16, 1902, when its founder Ernest Solvay, a wealthy Belgian chemist, industrialist, and philanthropist, inaugurated the original edifice of SIS in Parc Léopold (BS 2006). Under the guidance of its first director, Emile Waxweiler, SIS expressed a “conception of a sociology open to all of the disciplines of the human sciences: ethnology, of course, but also economics [...] and psycho-physiology, contact with which was facilitated by the proximity of the Institute of Physiology” (Vatin 1996: 486). While SIS is now part of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and known more simply as that university’s Institute of Sociology [Institut de Sociologie], the approach instigated by Solvay and Waxweiler still serves as methodological framework: a synergy between basic and applied research involving interdisciplinary studies firmly anchored in social life (IS 2007).

In 1894, Solvay established ISS (Gaspari 2002: 602; IS 2005). In addition, in 1897, Solvay gave to “the School of Political and Social Sciences annexed to the Université [Libre] de Bruxelles, a sum sufficient to assure its existence over three years” (Rey 1903: 196). However, in 1901, as a reflection of his views about the “close links which [...] unite sociological phenomena to the biological phenomena from which they immediately derive” (Solvay 1902/1906: 26), Solvay disbanded ISS in order to organize SIS along lines more directly and intimately attached to those of the Solvay Institute of Physiology [SIP; Institut de Physiologie Solvay] he had created in 1891 (Solvay 1902/1906: 26; Vatin 1996: 486; Gaspari 2002: 602; Ducenne 2004; IS 2005). SIS was due to become property of the Université Libre de Bruxelles twenty-five years after its creation (Rey 1903: 196); this transfer actually occurred only twenty-one years later, in 1923 (Anonymous 1960: 213).

Designed by Belgian architects , SIS was built on a hillside in Leopold Park not far from its sister, SIP, which latter had been designed by and completed between 1892–1894 (CRM 2000: II; Ducenne 2004; BS 2006).

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