Abstract
[Figure: see text]▪ Abstract A narrative account of the ingredients in the making of a young scientist, his wartime science in England, and subsequent career in France, where, starting in molecular electronic spectroscopy, he has grown older and has expanded his horizons to address problems of astrophysical, nonlinear optical, and biological interest, using, with the aid of many good scientists, a variety of techniques, mainly of optical and mass spectroscopies and with synchrotron radiation as an important excitation source. He has plans to continue….