Biography

Born in Reims (Marne) on May 10 1923. Died February 20, 2020 .

Education and professional career

Primary education

  • Lycée de jeunes filles de Mondenard, Bordeaux

Secondary studies

  • 1927-1928 : Longchamps annex of Lycée Michel-de-Montaigne, Bordeaux
  • 1928-1933 : Longchamps annex of Lycée Michel-de-Montaigne, Bordeaux
  • 1933-1940 : Section A (Latin-Greek-German). Baccalauréat : Math-Elem section (English) mention AB, Math-Elem baccalauréat mention TB, Philo baccalauréat mention AB (July 1939)
  • Winner of the general drawing competition (Lefranc-Éducation nationale)

Post-secondary studies

  • 1940-1941 : Special preparatory courses at Lycée Michel-de-Montaigne, Bordeaux
  • Summer 1941 : Admitted to the École Centrale des Arts et Manufacture, Paris
  • June 1941 : General mathematics (Pr M. Brelot), Bordeaux University. Passed, mention AB
  • 1941-1942 : Mathématiques spéciales, lycée Saint-Louis, Paris
  • August 1942 : Reçu (n° 20 bis) à l'École normale supérieure (sciences)
  • 1942-1943 : University studies, Grenoble University
  • June 1942 : Certificate in differential and integral calculus (Pr R. Gosse)
  • June 1942 : Certificate in rational mechanics (Pr M. Brelot)
  • June 1942 : Certificate in general physics (Pr R. Fortrat)
  • Certificate in General Chemistry (Pr M. Dodero)
  • Certificate in advanced analysis (Pr P. Lelong)
  • Certificate in fluid mechanics (Pr M. Brelot)
  • December 1943-August 1944 : D.E.S. in physics (Pr R. Fortrat, M. Reulos) on waveguides.
    " I had to leave Grenoble in a hurry, and did not take these certificates, nor complete this diploma. I did not pursue any academic activity, except clandestinely... "
  • September 1946 : D.E.S. on the subject " Le polissage électrolytique " (jury : Pr R. Fortrat, E. Esclangon), mention AB
    " I had set up electrolysis experiments even though I was in hiding, without any help or instruction other than Jacquet's articles... "
  • September 1944-August 1945 : École normale supérieure
  • Autumn 1944 : General Chemistry, University of Paris. Accepted (special session for mobilized personnel) (December 1944)
  • December 1944-August 1945 : Mobilized
  • 1945-1946 : Preparatory lectures for the agrégation in physical sciences. Received (session 1946 demobilized) n° 6 as agrégé of physical sciences
  • 1946-1950 : University of Paris, doctoral studies
  • May 1950 : Doctorate in physics, with distinction TH, with congratulations from the jury, on the subject " Contribution à la théorie du type spectral " (jury : A. Danjon, A. Kastler, R. Croze, E. Schatzman)
  • Second thesis topic : " Les moments nucléaires "

Self-analysis of my scientific career

My childhood memories, as far back as I can remember, place astronomy at the heart of my dreams. My father was a scientist, my mother literary ; the sky was, between Voltaire and Einstein, a crossroads of influences. For my tenth birthday, I was given a book by Berget and Rudaux, Le Ciel. This book, then well bound, is now in pieces, leaves crumpled, cover scratched, so much I've read and leafed through it... Two or three years later, I was given Einstein et l'Univers by C. Nordmann. And after my physics exam at the baccalaureate, I replied to the examiner, who I think had been favorably impressed by my presentation : " I want to be an astrophysicist... and go to the École Normale ", I added... Which I did indeed, still with a certain fascination for physics.