École Polytechnique (also known by the nickname "X") is a French public institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, a suburb located south from Paris. It is one of the leading prestigious French 'Grandes Écoles' in engineering, especially known for its polytechnicien engineering program. The school was established in 1794 by the mathematician Gaspard Monge during the French Revolution, and was once previously a military academy under Napoleon I in 1804.