The French National Centre for Scientific Research (French: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, pronounced [sɑ̃tʁ(ə) nɑsjɔnal də la ʁəʃɛʁʃ(ə) sjɑ̃tifik]; CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest public research body in Europe and the second largest research organisation in the world. In 2020, it employed over 32,000 staff, including more than 16,000 tenured researchers, 10,000 engineers and technical staff, and 8,000 contractual workers. It is headquartered i