Despite her original intention to become a surgeon,[5] she completed her degree in mathematics, physics, and chemistry due to limited opportunities to attend medical school in France during World War II.

[5] In 1944, while still working toward her doctorate at the University of Paris, Morette took a job at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, then under the direction of Frederic Joliot-Curie.

[2] The French mathematician Alain Connes, who is a recipient of the Fields Medal, credited the summer school as responsible for his career in mathematics.

Nobel laureates Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Georges Charpak, and Claude Cohen-Tannoudji identified the school as helping with their success.

The proposed name was agreed as the "Institute for Field Physics" and it was established in 1956 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the direction of Bryce and Morette.

[18] In 1972 Morette and her husband led an expedition to Mauritania to confirm that light was deflected in line with the theory of general relativity, to improve on Arthur Eddington's 1919 experiment.

[3] In 2007 Professor Cécile DeWitt-Morette was awarded the American Society of the French Legion of Honour 2007 Medal for Distinguished Achievement in New York.