Born August 17 1901, Paris. Died July 4 1992.
Son of Jean Perrin, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1926.
Education and professional career
- Secondary education in Paris (École Alsacienne, then Lycée Henri IV)
- 1918-1922 : Student at the École Normale Supérieure
- 1920 : Licencié in physical sciences and mathematics
- 1922 : Agrégé in physical sciences
- 1924-1932 : Assistant at the Paris Faculty of Science
- 1928 : Doctor of Mathematical Sciences
- 1929 : Doctor of Physical Sciences
- 1933 : Lecturer at the Sorbonne (physical theories)
- 1935 : Appointed professor without a chair
- 1933 : Member of the 7th International Council of Physics Solvay
- September 1939 to July 1940 : Mobilized (DCA lieutenant)
- 1941-1943 : Visiting Professor at Columbia University (New York)
- 1944-1945 : Delegate of the Free French of the USA to the Provisional Consultative Assembly (Algiers then Paris)
- 1946-1972 : Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Atomic and Molecular Physics
- 1945 to 1950 : Member of the Atomic Energy Commission Committee
- 1951 to 1970 : High Commissioner for Atomic Energy
- 1951-1974 : Member of the 8th International Council of Solvay Physics, then from 1951 to 1974 on its permanent committee
- 1958 : Chairman of the2nd United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Geneva
- 1960-1974 : Member of CERN's Scientific Directives Committee
Learned societies and academies
- 1933 : Secretary of the Société Française de Physique
- 1953-1992 : Member of the Institut (Académie des Sciences)
- 1954 : Corresponding member of the Brazilian National Academy of Sciences, the Madrid Academy of Sciences and the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences
- 1958-1992 : Member of the French Academy of Agriculture
- 1972 : Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Awards and distinctions
- 1952 : Honorary doctorate from Upsal University
- 1967 : Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
- 1970 : Grand Cross of the Légion d'Honneur
- 1977 : Honorary doctorate from Columbia University, New York