The French government has entrusted the CNRS with the role of advancing knowledge for the benefit of society. With 33,000 staff and a budget of 3.3 billion euros, the CNRS carries out its activities in all fields of knowledge, with the help of over 1,100 laboratories in France and abroad. It does research in all scientific, social and technological fields, including mathematics, physics, communications, and computer sciences and technology, nuclear physics and particle physics, Earth sciences, chemistry, biology, human and social sciences, the environment, and engineering.