[2] Cordier entered the École des mines in 1794 and followed the well-known courses of Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829), René Just Haüy (1743–1822) and Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (1750–1801).

[1] Arriving in Alexandria, Cordier immediately began his researches into the country's mineralogy and geology, with particular focus on the formation of the Nile valley.

[2] Although Cordier was taken prisoner in Taranto, subsequently being transferred to Messina in Sicily,[2] he was freed after three months in captivity as a result of Dolmieu's intervention and returned to France.

Cordier started work at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in 1819, when he succeeded Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819) to the chair of geology.

[2] He made 51 geological journeys during his life, collecting specimens from within France (the Pyrenees, Languedoc, Maine, the Ardennes, the Vosges, Saxony and the Auvergne) as well as Tuscany, Liguria and the Alps.