Trajectoire normalienne

This physicist, university professor of the highest rank, is specialized in atomic, molecular and optic physics. She is an active member of several learned societies and is part of the French Commission for UNESCO and the International Basic Science Program of UNESCO. She is also the Counselor for Science and Technology at the French Embassy in Washington, thus contributing to France’s scientific and intellectual influence in the world.

Historian, writer and movie-maker, Assia Djebar is the first Algerian and the first Muslim woman to integrate the ENS.

The illustrious savant, administrator and director of scientific studies for the ENS was authority and discipline incarnate.

The illustrious savant, administrator and director of scientific studies for the ENS was authority and discipline incarnate.

A renowned poet during his lifetime and a French politician, deputy of the Martinique and mayor of Fort-de-France for several decades, Aimé Césaire was a fervent humanist. He coined, with Léopold Sedar Sanghor in particular, the concept of “negritude” and helped the Martinique colony to become a French département.

Philosopher, union supporter, militant and mystic, Simone Weil was a top intellectual, engaged in all major events and combats of her time (the strikes of 1935-36, Popular Front, Spanish War, the Resistance).

Philosopher, union supporter, militant and mystic, Simone Weil was a top intellectual, engaged in all major events and combats of her time (the strikes of 1935-36, Popular Front, Spanish War, the Resistance).