Introducing myself

I was born to a working-class family, at a time when, like my friends, I had no other horizon than the factory or building site. No TV, no newspapers or even books at home. Yet, without being really ambitious, I thought I could aim very high: after primary school, it would be Lycée Vaucanson, to prepare for the trade of cabinetmaker. Truth must be told that working with wood has always been one of my pleasures.

Therefore, I will be a cabinet-maker, provided, however, that I pass the barrier of the entry exam, an obstacle deemed to be very difficult (the entrance to the Lycée Vaucanson in Grenoble is always very selective).

From there, my fate took the form of several teachers.

The first was my CM2 teacher, whose name I unfortunately forgot: while training for Vaucanson, he said to me, you must pass the entrance exam in 6ème (there was a contest entry). I didn’t know the need for the 6ème, but I wisely applied. I passed with flying colors, this goes without saying, the doors of the prestigious lycée Champollion were wide open to me and my destiny took the opportunity to let me believe I had no other choice but to go to the lycée.

Lycée, what’s that, and for what? Then there was a family council where, to put an end to all the perplexity, I proposed as the goal: the brevet de 3ème. An examination, therefore, in the not too distant future, was certain. The motion was unanimously adopted, my father being the only one voting.

We lived outside the city, on the slopes of Moucherotte, which I explored from top to bottom and from left to right, in all seasons, in footwear or bare feet, whenever I had the time. Plants and animals were my friends: I came home one day with a bat that was flying freely about my room, another day it was a snake wrapped around my arm. With plants I made an herbarium. Seeing this, another teacher intervened, arriving straight from the Nineteenth century and republican Jules Ferry school. This man, tall, dignified, wide-brimmed hat, strongly advised me to learn Latin and Greek since they are used to name plants, and all living beings. I did nothing. For a few tens of Latin or Greek roots that I was going to meet, I didn’t want to clutter up with the spirit of dead languages. I had so many much more interesting things to learn.

Latin and ancient Greek were then what are today math and physics: the mark of the elite. My refusal relegated me to the Grenoble collège moderne de garçons, where I met a remarkable teacher of Natural Sciences (now SVT), which I’ve unfortunately forgotten the name, once again. For him, life is a lesson learned in nature; not lectures, he put in our hands what he had harvested, mostly plants, to describe their structure, and to determine their mode of life. For me this was a Revelation, with a capital R (I was the only one in the class). It was decided: I would be a teacher of Natural Sciences. It was a no-brainer, not only for me but also, surprisingly, for all my classmates.

Let’s move on to my final year at the lycée Champollion, where the teacher of biology almost put me off this discipline. Besides, I failed the baccalaureate in the first session. Then university, in Grenoble then Lyon.

In Lyon, I took my bike from the Croix-Rousse to Quai Claude-Bernard, lean my bike against the walls of the University and go in to assiduously follow all the courses, which I diligently wrote down in large notebooks. At the end of the lecture, I went back on my bike, and pushed quietly to Croix-Rousse, which my classmates thought was the mark of a superior mind, they who did not lose a minute cramming. In fact it was just casualness on my part, or rather unconsciousness. In the evening, with my friends, there were discussions, meals, or outings, until midnight. The next day at 7 o’clock I would shake myself, and they cycle – so to speak – would continue.

Destiny – always – fortunately intervened to disperse the friends just before my exams. I had a month to open the maddening pile of notebooks and try to swallow their contents. One of the toughest periods of my life: a month of nearly no sleep, learning to the point of dizziness.

Result, I passed all my exams, but with a downside: twice I was last on the list. Regardless of the targeted position, what would my CV currently be worth, compared to the Very Good ratings that any candidate must exhibit?

It is at this crucial moment that my fate took the form of a remarkable gentleman. How can one forget his name: Jean-Marie Legay. About this gentleman, I would just say that I owe him my life, the scientific life, of course, but science is an inseparable part of my life. I was admitted to his team, despite my catastrophic references, and showed me a path that will always be mine.

The result was a Long Fleuve Tranquille, quiet river, as Etienne Chatiliez says, in other words, it was anything but quiet. I went where my scientific curiosity, the circumstances, and encounters led me, with great successes and resounding failures. As a result, the old science backpacker that I have become invites Internet users who want to follow him on a walk through the vast world that I have encountered, starting from the smallest organisms to encompass the universe.

This is all well and good, but what good is science if it does not contribute to alleviate suffering? With our collaborators, we have been working on the terrible diseases, including the degenerative diseases, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and others, and luckily we obtained excellent results, but yes, it was in mice.

If we have done this in mice, then why not in humans? But that’s another story.

*Doors of lycée Champollion, anguish of so many schoolchildren: will they still be open, or just closed at my arrival?

(Photo jaunespages.fr)