Among its alumni and teachers are five Nobel Prize winners,[3] two Fields medalists,[4] three presidents of France[5] and many CEOs of French and international companies.

After World War II, the rapid growth of nuclear physics and chemistry meant that research needed more and more powerful accelerators, which required large areas.

Other institutes joined the region in the following decades, most notably ENS Cachan, Télécom Paris, and ENSTA, as part of the Paris-Saclay project, a national effort to regroup research and business activities.

Each member institution would remain independent but share a significant portion of existing and newly invested resources.

This follows a model similar to the one adopted by University of Oxford and Cambridge, where each constituent college keeps its independence while being grouped under a 'university'.