He was from a Jewish family and suffered during World War II during the period of Nazi control.

The family reunited and he was allowed to return to France on the condition that he would not join military service.

He worked at the University of Strasbourg with Pierre Weiss and in 1928 he moved to Collège de France.

He refused to take refuge in the USA during World War II and stayed back in Vichy.

[1] His contributions to physics include the determination of the Stefan constant, examination of spectra, hydrogen bonding in water, light dispersion, magnetism, quantum mechanics and chemical kinetics.