Born in Paris, August 8 1920. Died September 16 2011.
Education and professional career
- 1940-1945 : Student at the École normale supérieure
- 1945 : Agrégé de l'Université (for 1944)
- 1946-1948 : Research associate at the C.N.R.S. and chargé de mission at the national museums (Egyptology department of the Louvre)
- 1948-1952 : Member of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo
- 1952 : In charge of setting up the Ethiopian Antiquities Service
- 1952 : Graduate of the École pratique des Hautes Études,Ve section
- 1953-1963 : Lecturer, then Professor (1955) at Strasbourg University
- 1955 : Doctor of Letters
- 1963-1979 : Professor of Egyptology at the Sorbonne
- 1964-1990 : Director of Studies at the École pratique des Hautes Études,Ve section.
- 1966-1990 : Director of URA 1228 Pyramides à textes d'Égypte, C.N.R.S.
- 1979-1990 : Professor of Egyptology at the Collège de France
- Since 1992 : Curator of the Villa Kérylos
- Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
- Vice-Chairman of the French National Commission for UNESCO
- Chairman, Haut-comité des Célébrations nationales
- Honorary President of the Société asiatique and the Société internationale des études nubiennes
- Former President of the Société française d'égyptologie
Academic distinctions
- Honorary doctorate from the University of Louvain
- Honorary doctorate from the University of Bologna
Official French decorations
- 1963 : Chevalier du Mérite Militaire
- 1983 : Commandeur des Palmes académiques
- 1990 : Commandeur des Arts et Lettres
- 1992 : Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur
- 1995 : Commandeur de l'Ordre national du Mérite
- Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur
Official foreign decorations
- Officer of the Imperial Order of Menelik (Ethiopia)
- Grand Officer of the Order of the Republic of Egypt
