A student at the École Polytechnique from 1964 to 1966, he then joined the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research. From 1972, he taught at the University of Paris-Sud and then at the University of Nice. From 1970 until 1985, he was a lecturer at the École polytechnique. He was a lecturer at the University of Minnesota (1977-1978), at the University of California (1978) and at the University of Stuttgart (1990, 1995, 1997) where he worked with Klaus Kirchgässner.