Biography

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