Born on July 19 1929 in Moutiers-en-Cinglais (Calvados), French nationality. Married 1956, two children .
Died 22 November 2023.
Education and professional career
- Agrégé de l'Université
- Doctor of Letters
- Former student at the École normale supérieure
- 1955 : Teacher at Montpellier high school
- 1957 : Research associate at CNRS
- 1960 : Assistant at the Faculty of Letters, Montpellier
- 1963 : Senior assistant, then director of studies at the École des Hautes Études
- 1970 : Professor at the Sorbonne
- 1971 : Professor at the University of Paris-VII
- 1973-1999 : Professor of the History of Modern Civilization at the Collège de France
- 1987-1994 : General Administrator of the French National Library
Awards and distinctions
- Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Commander of the Légion d'honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
- Member of the Institut (Académie des sciences morales et politiques)
- Honorary doctorate from the universities of Geneva (1978), Michigan (1981), Leeds (1982), Leicester (1986), York (1986), Carnegie Mellon at Pittsburgh (1987), Durham (1987), Hull (1990), Dublin (1992) Albany, Montreal (1993), Haifa (1993), Oxford (1993), Pennsylvania (1995)
- 1974 : Foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Sciences
- 2006 : Honorary Member of the Academy of Japan
- 2018 : Elevation to the dignity of Grand Cross in the National Order of Merit
