First published in 2002. Henri Louis Bergson was born in Paris, October 18, 1859. He entered the Ecole normale in 1878, and was admitted agrégé de philosophie in 1881 and docteur és lettres in 1889. After holding professorships in various provincial and Parisian lycées, he became maître de conférences at the Ecole normale supérieure in 1897, and since 1900 has been professor at the Collége de France. In 1901 he became a member of the Institute on his election to the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques.