[1] In 1969, Capitaine received a bachelor's degree ("licence") from the Faculty of Sciences in Paris in mathematics.
Capitaine became deputy director of the Department of Fundamental Astronomy at the Paris Observatory in 1985.
In 2002, still at the Paris Observatory, she became a full-time astronomer in the SYRTE department (Space Time Reference Systems).
From 2003 to 2007, she served as a member of the Standing Committee for Science and Metrology co-chaired by Christian Bordé and Jean Kovalevsky.
Her work, carried out in the framework of a large international cooperation, led to a better definition of reference systems and time scales for astronomy, as well as to a better knowledge of the rotation of the Earth.