I
was born in the city of Beauvais but spent only the first few days of
my life there so I know very little about it except that it enjoys a
very beautiful cathedral:
La
cathédrale de Beauvais
I spend all my childhood in a tiny village in Provence :
Ampus.
I do advise visiting the beautiful landscapes and the charming village.
Most special for me is the "Path of the Cross", a series of ceramics
panels designed by atheistic English artist Geoffrey Hindry (my father,
yes this is one of the main reasons for this site to be largely
bilingual). To view the ceramics on the site of the city of Ampus,
click on "visite" then on "chemin de croix".
The ceramics have recently been restaured thanks to the initiave of the ONG "
APPA"(Association for the Preservation of the Patrimony of Ampus).
I've been professor for two years (1982-84) in Quito, Ecuador, where I taught mathematics in the
Universidad
Central del Ecuador and the
Escuela Politecnica
Nacional.
Quito is a beautiful city located at almost three thousand metres of
altitude (around ten thousand feet) and at the foot of the volcano
Pichincha, in the middle of the Andies mountains.
When I returned to France, I prepared a PhD at the University Pierre
and Marie Curie (Paris 6). My adviser was Michel Laurent and I defended
my thesis in May 1987 with a title :
"Géométrie et hauteurs dans les groupes
algébriques".
I then got a position in 1988 at the University Denis Diderot (Paris 7) first as a "maître
de conférence" (lecturer) then as a professor.
Since the members of my little family prefer to remain discrete, you'll
only find below a picture of my little dog Kelly (isn't she cute?).
