He published descriptions of numerous taxa and was among the first to propose that the mouth-parts of insects are derived from the jointed legs of segmented arthropods.

He was educated at the Collège des Oratoriens in classical languages with a view to becoming a priest, but learned a bit of botany and the use of microscope.

In 1798 he travelled to Egypt under the sponsorship of Emperor Napoleon as part of the French scientific expedition to that country and returned in 1802.

Being very interested in botany, he attended lectures at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier.

After returning to Paris, in 1802, Savigny started to work on the large collections from Egypt, producing a number of manuscripts and plates.