A prominent French academic, Richard Descoings, was found dead naked in a New York hotel room on Tuesday afternoon and New York police opened an investigation into the circumstances of his death. New York City Police said that the body of Descoings, 53, director of the prestigious Institute of Political Studies or "Sciences Po" in Paris and a member of France's Council of State, a government advisory body, was found in his room at the Michelangelo Hotel on 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan.