[1][2] Le Cam then worked for a hydroelectric utility for five years, while meeting at the University of Paris for a weekly seminar in statistics.

In 1950, he was invited to become an instructor at the University of California, Berkeley;[1] he arrived that fall, with his original plan being to stay there a year on leave from his utility position.

[2] He obtained his Ph.D. in 1952,[3] was appointed Assistant Professor in 1953 and continued working at Berkeley (except for a year in Montreal) beyond his retirement in 1991 until his death.

[1][4] Le Cam was the major figure during the period 1950 – 1990 in the development of abstract general asymptotic theory in mathematical statistics.

He is best known for the general concepts of local asymptotic normality and contiguity, and for developing a metric theory of statistical experiments, recounted in his 1986 magnum opus Asymptotic Methods in Statistical Decision Theory.