Education at Ecole normale supérieure, Paris; survival during German Occupation, and gathering of astronomers at Haute Provence Observatory; work in stellar evolution, white dwarfs, and stellar atmospheres; views on cosmology; personal relation to Communist Party. Postwar situation of French astronomy, difficulties of establishing astrophysical community, Institut d'Astrophysique, changing relationships in education, government, and funding mechanisms. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Société Astronomique de France. Comments on a variety of institutional problems. Also prominently mentioned are: Pierre Raoul Aigrain, Daniel Barbier, Edmond H. Bauer, Emile Borel, Louis de Broglie, Chalonge, Paul Couderc, Courtes, Cruze, Danjon, Bernard Dreyfus, Jean Dufay, Esclangon, Charles Fehrenbach, Jacques Friedel, Jean Pierre Girard, André Lallemand, Henri Longchambon, Lwoff, Henri Mineur, Max Morand, Jean Claude Pecker, Pope Pius XII, Martin Schwarzschild, Lyman Spitzer, Bengt Georg Daniel Strömgren, Tudminen, Vichney, Edmund T. Whittaker, Lodewijk Woltjer, Fritz Zwicky; Bulletin Astronomique, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France), Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technique, Ecole des hautes études (France), Ecole normale supérieure (France), European Southern Observatory, France Ministry of Education, Institut de Radio Astronomie Multimetrique, Institut Henri Poincaré, International Astronomical Union, Meudon Observatory, Observatoire de Haute Provence, Paris-Soir, Physics Today, Princeton University, Société Française de Physique, Sputnik (Spacecraft), Sud Aviation Co., and Université de Paris.