Biography

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