Born in Chalon-sur-Saône, Baillaud studied at the École Normale Supérieure (1866-1869)[1] and the University of Paris.

In 1903, the observatory took over a facility on the Pic du Midi in the Pyrenees that had been founded by amateurs in the 1850s with the goal of putting a telescope there.

However, the height of 2865 metres (9400 feet) posed formidable logistical challenges and the ambition had remained unrealised though a meteorological observatory had operated from 1873 to 1880.

Though the French government agreed to fund the project, it was becoming increasingly clear that its objectives were hopelessly unrealistic.

Baillaud was the President of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society, from 1909 to 1911.