Born in Lorient, Morbihan, on August 20 1930.
Education and professional career
- 1954 : Agrégation in natural sciences
- Freelance researcher in Prof. Étienne Wolff's laboratory at Nogent-sur-Marne, until 1960, when he was seconded to the teaching profession
- Until 1960 : Secondary school teacher
- 1964 : Doctorate in natural sciences
- 1960-1965 : Research associate, then research fellow at CNRS
- 1965-1966 : Lecturer at the University of Clermont-Ferrand
- 1966-1975 : Professor, University of Nantes
- 1975-1988 : Director of Research, CNRS
- 1988-2000 : Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Cellular and Molecular Embryology
- 1998 : Holder of the Unesco Chair " Development Biology " at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Scientific bodies and other functions
- Since October 1975 : Director of the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Embryology, CNRS and Collège de France
- Member of numerous scientific committees and councils in France and abroad
- Member of the editorial board of some twenty scientific journals
- Member of numerous learned societies
- Supervisor of fifty theses
Awards and distinctions
- 1965 : Prix de l'Académie des sciences, Paris, Prix Cognacq-Jay
- 1973 : Prix de l'Académie royale de Belgique, Prix Van Beneden
- 1973 : Fondation Lacassagne du Collège de France Prize
- 1977 : Lillie Fellow of the Marine Biological Institute of Woods Hole, USA
- 1981 : Officier dans l'ordre des Palmes académiques
- 1982 : Member of the Académie des Sciences, Paris (Institut de France)
- 1984 : Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1986 : Inamori Foundation Prize (Japan)
- 1986 : CNRS Gold Medal
- 1986 : " Research and Medicine" prize from the Institute of Health Sciences
- 1988 : Member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Liège
- 1989 : Honorary doctorate from Columbia University, New York
- 1990 : Prix de la Fondation Louis Jeantet de médecine, Geneva, Switzerland
- 1990 : Honorary doctorate from Complutense University, Madrid, Spain
- 1990 : Member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine
- 1990 : Foreign member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine
- 1993 : Honorary foreign member of the Royal Academy of Belgium
- 1993 : Full member of the Académie européenne des sciences, des arts et des lettres, Paris
- 1993 : Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, Columbia University, New York
- 1995 : Grand officier dans l'ordre national du Mérite
- 1997 : Commandeur dans l'ordre de la Légion d'honneur
- 1997 : Ross Harrisson Prize from the International Society of Developmental Biology
- 1997 : Honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
- 1998 : Honorary doctorate from the University of Montreal
