At the University of Nantes he was from 1972 to 1978 a maître assistant and from 1980 to 1988 a professor; from 1972 to 1974 he also taught at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées.

During his years in Ottawa he was also scientific advisor to the French Embassy in Canada.

He was director of studies in the history of exact science at the EHESS from 1988 until his retirement.

He was the directing editor of the book series Un savant, une époque for the publishing house Belin éditeur in Paris.

He was the founding editor of the journal Sciences et Techniques en Perspective distributed by Librairie Blanchard and has been a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including Historia Mathematica and Physis.