 Founded in 1872 by Professor Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (then Zoology Chair at the Sorbonne University ), the SBR constitutes, since March 1985, the Internal School 937 of the Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC).In November 1985, the SBR was given the status of Oceanographic Observatory by the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers et de l'Environnement (National Institute for the Cosmological and Environmental Sciences; INSU).The SBR is also, since January 2001, a Research Federation within the Life Sciences Department of the CNRS.