From 1888 he studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he successively earned degrees in mathematics (1889), physics (1890) and natural sciences (1891).
In 1892 he obtained his agrégation, and two years later became chef de travaux to the faculty of sciences at Paris.
[1] In 1922 he became a lecturer at the École Normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, and from 1923 to 1936 served as director of the laboratory of plant biology in Avon.
During the same year he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences (section of botany).
In 1984 John W. Paden introduced the generic name Molliardiomyces for the anamorphic states of Sarcoscypha and the related genus Phillipsia.