Born on June 13, 1911 in Schwetz, Germany (today Swiecie, Poland). Died on October 9, 1999.

• Refugee in France in April 1933
• Naturalized French on August 30, 1939
• Mobilized and sent to Vietnam, active service in mountain artillery (carte du combattant)

Education and professional career

• Two years at the University of Berlin (Sinology, Ethnology)
• 31 March 1933: Diploma in Chinese language from the Seminar für Orientalische Sprachen
• 1934: Diploma from the Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises
• 1934: Diploma in Chinese language from the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes
• 1936: Diploma in Japanese language from the École Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes.
• Study of Tibetan (Bacot, Lalou) and Mongolian (Pelliot)
• Lectures on Sinology (Granet, Pelliot, Maspero, Mestre, Escarra, Dubarbier), religions of unwritten peoples (Mauss), Japan (Haguenauer), Southeast Asia (Mestre)
• 1937: Licencié ès Lettres, Sorbonne
• June 1940: Nominated by the Académie as a Member of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient in June (nomination not accepted due to Vichy laws)
• 1941-1945: Translator of Chinese and Japanese for the French General Staff and the French Postal Service
• 1946: Retroactively appointed Permanent Member of the École Française with effect from July 1, 1941
• 1946-1949: Study mission of the École Française in China (stays in K'ouen-ming, Tch'engtou and Peking, trips to Inner Mongolia, the Tibetan border and Yun-nan)
• 1949-1951: Professor of Chinese at the École des Langues Orientales
• 1950: Lecture at the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Rome
• 1951-1975: Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, V^e Section, Chair of Comparative Religions of the Far East and Upper Asia
• Creation and direction of a collection of photographic documents (China, Indochina, Japan, Tibet, Nepal, India) at the Centre documentaire d'Histoire des Religions, annex of the Musée Guimet
• 1954, 1960: Six-month and two-month study missions among the Tibetan populations of the Himalayas and Sikhim
• 1958: Two lectures at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies
• 1960: On return from second mission, month stay in Japan (lectures, Tokyo, Kyoto and Koyasan Universities) and two weeks in America (University of Washington, Seattle)
• 1960: Doctorat d'État (Tibetan epic)
• 1960-1964: As part of an international project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, information work with four Tibetans (two monks and a married couple) who spoke no foreign language and had never had any contact with the non-Tibetan world
• 1963-1966: Lectures on Tibetan grammar at the École des Langues Orientales and lectures on the explanation of ancient Chinese texts (philosophy and religion) at the Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises
• 1966-1981: Professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair for the Study of the Chinese World, Institutions and Concepts
• 1968-1969: Study visit to Japan (four months)
• 1972: Congress on Taoism in Japan
• 1975: Study visit to Japan (May-June)
• 1976: Tibetology conference in Hungary (September)
• 1980: Colloquium on Ladakh in Tyrol
• 1981: Invited to China by the Academy of Social Sciences (discussions on Tibetan studies)

Awards and distinctions

• 1977: Honorary doctorate from the University of Bonn (lecture)