City honors Louis Pasteur at bilingual University reception

Strains of French filtered through Harrison Auditorium in the University Museum yesterday afternoon. But the audience was not a class of French 101 students. Rather, it was a celebratory gathering of more than 300 people honoring the centennial of the death of Louis Pasteur. The "American Inaugural Ceremony of the Year of Louis Pasteur," which was organized by the French Institute for Culture and Technology and the Pasteur Foundation, was attended by few University students. "We had the Penn French community and the Philadelphia French community, Penn alumni, Pasteur [Institute] alumni, and friends of the Penn foundation," said Fran_ois Gramet, assistant to the director of the French Institute. The ceremony was held under the patronage of Jacques AndrZani, French ambassador to the United States, who addressed the audience in both English and French. Citing rabies treatment as an example, he praised "the unique capacity of American society to capture, develop and absorb the achievements of other countries in science, technology and economics." In her address, University President Judith Rodin pointed out that the University's founder, Benjamin Franklin, was the first U.S. ambassador to France. Diane Dolto, Philadelphia's city representative for arts and culture, spoke in place of Mayor Ed Rendell -- who was scheduled to speak at the event. "It is impossible to imagine a Philadelphia without its strong French connection," Dolto said. Maxime Schwartz, director general of the Institut Pasteur, said the main purpose of the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's "Year of Louis Pasteur" is to make the works of Pasteur and their effects on society better known. He described Pasteur's efforts in preventing infectious disease and the fermentation process in wine, beer and vinegar. He added that Pasteur's work formed the basis for biotechnology. Roy Vagelos, chairman of the University Board of Trustees and former chairman and chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical corporation Merck & Co., Inc., spoke of Pasteur's innovative method of focusing on causes of disease rather than treating the symptoms. Vagelos said this approach has been instrumental in the treatment of modern diseases such as coronary heart disease and benign prostate enlargement. At the end of the ceremony, AndrZani and David Hornbeck, superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, opened the traveling bi-lingual exposition "Louis Pasteur: His Life and His Work." The inaugural ceremony was co-sponsored by the French Institute.

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