I was born in Strasbourg, France (on the German border) shortly before the Second World War and in 1939, while my father was mobilized, my mother and I went as far west as possible, namely to Brest, on the Atlantic Ocean, where my maternal uncle lived. We later joined my father in Toulouse (southern France) where he was demobilized after the fall of France, but as he could not work as a lawyer, which was his profession in Strasbourg, he took up a job as Director of an orphanage in Bergerac, a small town in southwestern France. In 1943, my parents managed to send me (illegally) to Switzerland where I had an uncle with whom I lived for several months, before returning to my parents once southern France had been liberated. Our family stayed in this region until 1945 when we could return to Strasbourg that had been liberated in November 1944. By that time I had attended eight different primary and secondary schools.
The following years were quieter. While in high school I was often tempted to follow in my father's footsteps, but I had seen that it is not always easy to be a lawyer, especially in troubled times, and I was also interested in sciences, especially biological sciences. After obtaining my ''baccalaureat'', in French meaning (after graduating from high school), I decided to study pharmacy, because the curriculum involves a good combination of biology and chemistry, among other fields. I started at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Strasbourg in 1950 and became a pharmacist in 1955. During these 5 years, I replaced, several times during the summer holidays, a pharmacist who had gone on vacation, and realized that I did not want to work in a pharmacy my whole life. However, I was hesitating between academic research, teaching, and the pharmaceutical industry.