He graduated from the University of Paris with a licence ès sciences degree in 1948, then studied at the Metallurgy Laboratory of the School of Mines with Charles Crussard.

He graduated from the University of Bristol with a PhD in 1952,[7] where he studied with Nevill Francis Mott,[8] and a Doctorat d'Etat in Paris in 1954.

He was assistant professor at Paris-Sorbonne University in 1956, then full professor of Solid State Physics (from 1959 to 1989) at the University of Paris-Sud where he co-founded the Laboratory of Solid State Physics.

He was the president of the Société française de physique, the European Physical Society,[9] and the French Academy of Sciences from 1992 to 1994.

Friedel was awarded the gold medal of the French CNRS in 1970, elected as a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences[10] and a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1988.