After a year of preparatory classes at the Lycée Chaptal in Paris in 1960–61, he entered the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud where he obtained a degree in physics and chemistry.
He launched a research program on electron-positron annihilation at the highest energies available at the PETRA collider installed at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg.
He is one of the founders of the ALEPH experiment that continues this research at CERN on the LEP collider from 1989, providing precision measurements that will establish the Standard Model of Fundamental Interactions.
In parallel with his activities in particle physics, he strongly supports the Franco-Italian Virgo project for the research of gravitational waves and welcomed Alain Brillet's team to the LAL in 1991.
Michel Davier's research has led to significant advances in the physics of strong and electroweak interactions through the construction and operation of large detectors, CELLO in Hamburg, ALEPH at CERN and BABAR at SLAC: The construction, development and analysis of the Virgo interferometer data involved a colossal effort through international collaboration in which the group founded by Michel Davier at the LAL took a significant part: