Isabelle Pantin


Isabelle Pantin is a French literary scholar, historian of science, and expert on Renaissance literature, scientific publications from the Renaissance, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. She is a professor emerita of literature and language at the École normale supérieure.

Education and career

Pantin received a diploma from the École normale supérieur in 1972. She worked as a resident at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and directed the libraries of the ENS Jourdan and Montrouge campuses from 1985 to 1989. She became a lecturer at Sorbonne Nouvelle University from 1989 to 1995, and then a professor at Le Mans University and Paris Nanterre University before returning to the École normale supérieur as a professor in 2007. She was deputy director of the, a joint research institute of CNRS, the ENS, and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, from 2013 to 2017.

Books

Pantin is the author of:
  • La Poésie du ciel en France dans la seconde moitié du seizième siècle
  • Tolkien et ses légendes. Une expérience en fiction
She is the editor of critical editions and translations of:
  • Imprimeurs et libraires parisiens du XVI e siècle
  • Galileo Galilei, Sidereus Nuncius/Le Messager céleste
  • Johannes Kepler, Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo; Narratio de observatis Jovis satellitibus: Discussion avec le messager céleste; Rapport sur l'observation des satellites de Jupiter
  • La Mariane du Filomène
Her edited volumes include:
  • ''Mise en forme des savoirs à la Renaissance. A la croisée des idées, des techniques et des publics''

    Recognition

Pantin was elected corresponding member of the International Academy of the History of Science in 2007, before becoming full member in 2016. A festschrift, D'Uranie à Gollum : mélanges en l'honneur d'Isabelle Pantin, edited by Jean-Charles Monferran, Tristan Vigliano, and Alice Vintenon, was published by Honoré Champion in 2024.