The National Order of the Legion of Honour is the institution that, under the aegis of the Grand Chancellor and the Grand Master, is responsible for awarding the highest French honorary decoration. Established on May 19, 1802 by Bonaparte, then First Consul of the Republic, it has rewarded both military and civilians who have rendered "eminent services" to the Nation since its origins.

The academic palms, instituted by Napoleon in 1808, were to honor the members of the University created at the same time. They did not compose an Order in the sense we understand it today, but corresponded to honorary titles attached to a function and were embroidered on the left shoulder of the regulatory costume.

Louis de Fontanes, Grand Master of the University in 1808

Victor Duruy René Coty Reverse of the AMOPA medal

It was Napoleon III who, on the initiative of his minister Victor Duruy, made the Academic Palms an official decoration that could be detached, joined the insignia of other orders and could be attributed to non-teachers who do not belong to the academic world but who have rendered, through their action, services reported to education.

Finally, the decree of October 4, 1955 signed by President René Coty, Edgar Faure being President of the Council and Jean Berthoin Minister of National Education, established the Order of Academic Palms comprising the three ranks of Knight, Officer and Commander. General de Gaulle wanted to maintain it when, in 1963, he created the National Order of Merit intended to replace several other orders and decorations that had multiplied over the last century.

These three essential dates: 1808, 1866, 1955 are engraved on the reverse of the AMOPA medal, merged in 1976. She brings on the obverse a formula borrowed from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus "The sun is new every day", which has become in a way the motto of our association.