Born January 4 1914, Provins. Died January 9 2007.
Education and professional career
- Secondary education at Lycée Carnot, Paris
- Advanced studies at the Sorbonne
- 1937 : Agrégé de l'Université (Philosophy)
- 1937-1945 : Military service, war, resistance
- Former leader of the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur, South-West France, under the pseudonym Colonel Berthier
- Until 1948 : Philosophy teacher at the Lycée de Toulouse, then at the Lycée Jacques Decour, Paris
- 1948-1957 : Attaché, then research fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, from 1948 to 1957
- Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, VIe andVe sections
- 1964-1985 : Centre de Recherches Comparées sur les Sociétés Anciennes (Centre Louis Gernet) : founder in 1964 and director until 1985
- 1975-1984 : Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Comparative Studies of Ancient Religions
- Since 1984 : Honorary Professor at the Collège de France
Awards and distinctions
- Associate member of the Académie royale de Belgique
- Foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
- Honory Member of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies
- Member of the Academia Europaea
- Honorary doctorate from the Universities of Chicago, Bristol and Masaryk, Brno
- 1984 : CNRS Gold Medal
- 1991 : Premio di Storia, San Marino
- 1992 : American Academy Award for Humanistic Studies
- Commander of the Légion d'Honneur
- Compagnon de la Libération
- Croix de Guerre
- Grand Officer in the National Order of Merit
- Commander of the Order of Honor of the Hellenic Republic
- Officier des Arts et des Lettres
- 23 September 2002 : Honorary doctorate from the University of Crete