Hélène Ahrweiler
Hélène Glykatzi-Ahrweiler is a Greek-French academic Byzantinologist. She is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Greece.
Biography
Eleni Glykatzi was born in Athens in 1926, to a family of refugees from Constantinople. She graduated from high school in Athens and studied history and archaeology at the School of Philosophy of the University of Athens. After working in the Center for Asia Minor Studies, she moved to Paris in 1953 to continue her studies in the École pratique des hautes études where she obtained her doctorates in History and Classics. In 1955, she started working as a researcher in the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and on 7 November 1958, she married the French Army officer Jacques Ahrweiler. In 1960, she completed her PhD in History from the University of Paris. In 1964, she became the director of the CNRS, and two years later, in 1966, she completed her second PhD in Philology. She became a professor at the Sorbonne in 1967.By becoming Deputy Principal from 1970 to 1973 and then Principal of the University of [Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne] from 1976 to 1981, Glykatzi-Ahrweiler not only became the first woman to hold this position in the 700-year history of the Sorbonne, but also the first woman in the world to serve as the head of a world-renowned university.
In 1982, French President François Mitterrand named her as Rector of the Academy of Paris and Chancellor of the Universities of Paris, a post she held until 1989. From February 1989 to August 1991, she was president of the Centre Georges Pompidou. She is also the Principal at the University of Europe in Paris, President of the Ethics Committee of the National Centre of Scientific Research in France, President of the European [Cultural Centre of Delphi] in Greece, and Honorary President of the International Committee of Byzantine Studies. French president Jacques Chirac offered her the Medal of the Battalion Commander of the Legion of Honor, thus honoring her scientific work and directorship in various French universities as well as at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. In 2007, she received the title of Honorary Doctor of the Media Studies Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Honours
Ahrweiler is a corresponding member of the British Academy, the Academy of Athens, the Berlin-Brandenburg [Academy of Sciences and Humanities], the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and an associated member of the The Royal Academies for Science and [the Arts of Belgium|Royal Academy of Belgium]. She holds a number of honorary doctorates, and has received numerous decorations from the French government:- Commander of the Légion d'honneur
- Commander of the Ordre national du Mérite
- Commander of the Ordre des Palmes académiques
- Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres