École Polytechnique (also known by the nickname "X") is a French public institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau near Paris.
Polytechnique was established in 1794 by the mathematician Gaspard Monge during the French Revolution, and became a military academy under Napoleon I in 1804. Today, the institution still runs under the supervision of the French ministry of Defence. Initially located in the Latin Quarter of central Paris, the establishment main buildings was moved in 1976 to Palaiseau on the Saclay Plateau, southwest of Paris.