A graduate from the University of Rennes and the Sorbonne, he studied ancient hominids and had multiple published works on this topic, and also produced a film.

In October 2014, Coppens was named an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences by Pope Francis.

[5] The "Rift Valley theory", proposed and supported by the Dutch primatologist Adriaan Kortlandt,[6] became better known when it was later espoused and renamed by Coppens as the "East Side Story".

[9] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 21 March 2008 (M.P.C.

[10] Coppens advised on the French film Une Femme ou Deux (English: One Woman or Two; 1985).