Paris

Members of staff at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris are hoping that the appointment of a new president on 14 January will put an end to years of internal crisis there.

Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis, a specialist in the genetic improvement of farmed fish, comes from the French food safety agency, AFSSA, where he was president.

The museum has been managed by an interim administrator since September 1999, while a committee of external scientific advisers drew up plans to reform its research activities (see Nature 409, 273; 2001).

Chevassus-au-Louis is expected to reorganize the museum's 30 laboratories into a smaller number of departments around a theme of diversity in the living world. “The museum needs a coherent global vision,” he says.

The new president will be supported by a director responsible for the day-to-day running of the museum, and by a new scientific advisory committee. He will also appoint a director of collections to oversee a major planned renovation of specimen housing and cataloguing at the museum.

“The re-emphasis on the care of collections is good news for the world scientific community,” says Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis.

The government has promised 150 million euros (US$133 million) over six years — less than the 400 million euros thought necessary for the renovation, but Chevassus-au-Louis believes the rest will follow.