[1] Cabannes studied at the Lycée de Nice and entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1906.
From 1910 to 1914, Cabannes worked in the laboratory of Charles Fabry at Aix-Marseille University on the topic launched by Lord Rayleigh at the end of the 19th century of how gas molecules diffused light.
Cabannes along with Pierre Daure and Yves Rocard were among the scientists who, in 1928, discovered that gases diffusing monochromatic light could also change their wavelength (the Cabannes-Daure effect).
[3][4][5][6] This was identified independently by C. V. Raman and K. S. Krishnan in liquids, and by G. S. Landsberg and L. I. Mandelstam in crystals.
Cabannes was the President of the Société astronomique de France (SAF) (French astronomical society), from 1951-1953.