 Laplace had been Bonaparte's final examiner at the Ecole Militaire (September 1785) where Gaspard Monge, his professor, had encouraged him to finish the two-year course of mathematics in one.Napoleon became acquainted with Berthollet during his campaign in Italy, when Berthollet and Monge were part of the commission sent by the French Directory to select and dispatch Italian art treasures, manuscripts and scientific documents to Paris.Laplace, Berthollet and Monge became instrumental in having Napoleon elected to the First Class of the Institut de France (the class directing the exact sciences) when Lazare Carnot's place fell vacant in 1797.