He is a professor of computer science at the École normale supérieure (Paris).
[1] Vuillemin invented the binomial heap[2][B] and Cartesian tree data structures.
[3][C] With Ron Rivest, he proved the Aanderaa–Rosenberg conjecture, according to which any deterministic algorithm that tests a nontrivial monotone property of graphs, using queries that test whether pairs of vertices are adjacent, must perform a quadratic number of adjacency queries.
[5] With Franco P. Preparata, he also introduced the cube-connected cycles as a network topology in parallel computing.
[6][D] Vuillemin earned an engineering degree at the École Polytechnique in 1968, a doctorate (troisième cycle) at the University of Paris in 1969, a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1972 under the supervision of Zohar Manna, and a state doctorate from Paris Diderot University in 1974.