He took an interest in aquatic animals, describing numerous species from Lake Geneva.

Blanc was born in Lausanne to Charles Francois and Jeanne Susanne née Rey.

He then worked at museums in Kiel and Berlin with Karl Möbius and returned to Lausanne in 1883 as a lecturer in histology at the medicine faculty.

He became a full professor in 1891, while also becoming curator of the zoology museum (following the death of Jean-Jacques Larguier des Bancels) which he reorganized in 1909 at the Palais de Rumine.

He examined the fauna of Lake Geneva along with F. A. Forel[1] and took a special interest in the freshwater foraminifera.