Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), was a French
university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
located in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Diderot merged with
Paris Descartes University
Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...
in 2019 to form the University of Paris, which was later renamed
Paris Cité University.
With two
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureates, two
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
winners and two former French Ministers of Education among its faculty or former faculty, the university was famous for its teaching in science, especially in mathematics. Many fundamental results of the theory of probability were discovered at one of its research centres, the ''Laboratoire de Probabilités et Modèles Aléatoires'' (Laboratory of Probability and Random Models).
History
Paris Diderot University was one of the heirs of the old
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
, which ceased to exist in 1970. Professors from the faculties of Science, of Medicine and of Humanities chose then to create a new multidisciplinary university. It adopted its current name in 1994 after the 18th-century French philosopher, art critic and writer
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...
.
Formerly based at the
Jussieu Campus
The Jussieu Campus (''Campus de Jussieu'') or the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie Campus is a higher education campus located in the 5th arrondissement, Paris, 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the main campus of the Sorbonne Faculty of Science an ...
, in the
5th arrondissement, the university moved to a new campus in the
13th arrondissement, in the
Paris Rive Gauche neighbourhood. The first buildings were brought into use in 2006. The university had many facilities in Paris and two in other places of the general area. In 2012, the university completed its move in its new ultramodern campus.
Paris Diderot University was a founding member of the higher education and research alliance Sorbonne Paris Cité, a public institution for scientific co-operation, bringing together four renowned Parisian universities and four higher education and research institutes.
The university became a member of the
Sorbonne Paris University Group on 31 March 2010. It merged with the
Paris Descartes University
Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French public university located in Paris. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merg ...
in 2019, gaining its new appellation, the
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
.
List of facilities in Paris

There are:
*PRG (Paris Rive Gauche) - Main campus
*
Jussieu Campus
The Jussieu Campus (''Campus de Jussieu'') or the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie Campus is a higher education campus located in the 5th arrondissement, Paris, 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the main campus of the Sorbonne Faculty of Science an ...
- former Main campus
*Charles V -
English studies
English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a dis ...
*RFF Building - Administrative offices
*Javelot -
Geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
,
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
and
social science
Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
(GHSS)
*Chateau des Rentiers -
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
*Garancière -
Odontology
Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions of ...
*Xavier-Bichat -
Medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
*Lariboisière Saint-Louis -
Medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
*St Louis Hospital -
Hematology
Hematology (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to bloo ...
*Rue de Paradis -
Medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
UFR (''Unité de Formation et de Recherche'')
Paris Diderot University offers courses in many fields, each taught in a different section of the university designated as a UFR - ''Unité de Formation et de Recherche'' (Unit for Teaching and Research).
* UFR of Life Sciences
* UFR of Chemistry
* UFR of Computer Sciences
* UFR of Mathematics
* UFR of Physics
* UFR of Science of the Earth, Environment and Planets
* UFR of English studies
* UFR of Cross-cultural and Applied Languages studies
* UFR of Geography, History and Social sciences
* UFR of Languages and Cultures in East Asia studies (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese)
* UFR of Letters, Art and Cinema
* UFR of Linguistics
* UFR of Psychoanalytical Studies (formerly Human clinical sciences)
* UFR of Social Sciences
* UFR of Medicine
* UFR of Odontology
Academic degrees
There are:
* 1
Diplôme universitaire de technologie (called DUT)
* 27 different
bachelor's degrees
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Neo-Latin, Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and university, universities upon completion of a course of study lasting ...
(
Licence
A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
)
* 32 different
master's degrees
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
(116 specialities)
* 1
Engineering school
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve systems. Modern engineering comprises many subfiel ...
* 24 different
Ph.D.s (
Doctorat
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''Licentiate (degree), licentia docendi' ...
)
Teachers and former teachers
*
Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian
Minister of Defense
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
*
Claude Allègre
Claude Allègre (; 31 March 1937 – 4 January 2025) was a French politician and scientist. His work in the field of isotope geochemistry was recognised with the award of many senior medals, including the Crafoord Prize for geosciences in 1986 ...
,
Minister of National Education (France)
The Ministry of National Education and Youth, or simply Ministry of National Education, as the title has changed several times in the course of the Fifth Republic, is the cabinet member in the Government of France who oversees the country's pu ...
from 1997 to 2000 and member of the
Académie des sciences (France)
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
*
Artur Avila
Artur Avila Cordeiro de Melo (; born 29 June 1979) is a Brazilian mathematician working primarily in the fields of dynamical systems and spectral theory. He is one of the winners of the 2014 Fields Medal, being the first Latin American and lusop ...
, 2014
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
*
Jean-Luc Bennahmias, French Member of the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
*
Bernard Cerquiglini,
rector of the
Agence universitaire de la Francophonie
The ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie'' (AUF; ) is a global network of French-speaking higher-education and research institutions. Founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1961, as the ''Association des Universités Partiellement ou En ...
*
Michel Ciment, French journalist, writer and president of
FIPRESCI
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...
*
Vincent Courtillot
Vincent E. Courtillot (born 6 March 1948) is an emeritus French geophysicist, prominent among the researchers who are critical of the hypothesis that impact events are a primary cause of mass extinction of life forms on the Earth. He is known for ...
, geophysicist, member of the
Académie des sciences (France)
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
*
Jean Dausset,
Nobel Prize in Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...
1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
*
Luc Ferry, French Minister of National Education from 2002 to 2004
*
Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva (; ; born Yuliya Stoyanova Krasteva, ; on 24 June 1941) is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She has taught at Colum ...
, Bulgarian-French
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
,
sociologist and
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
*
Robert Mallet, writer
*
Thierry Morand, French biocontainment expert and entrepreneur.
*
Élisabeth Roudinesco
Élisabeth Roudinesco (; born 10 September 1944) is a French scholar, historian and psychoanalyst. She conducts a seminar on the history of psychoanalysis at the École Normale Supérieure.
Roudinesco's work focuses mainly on psychiatry, psycholo ...
, French historian and
psychoanalyst
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...
*
Jean-Michel Savéant
Jean-Michel Savéant (19 September 1933 – 16 August 2020) was a French chemist who specialized in electrochemistry. He was elected member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2000 and foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences i ...
, member of the
Académie des sciences (France)
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
*
Marcel-Paul Schützenberger
Marcel-Paul "Marco" Schützenberger (24 October 1920 – 29 July 1996) was a French mathematician and Doctor of Medicine. He worked in the fields of formal language, combinatorics, and information theory.Herbert Wilf, Dominique Foata, ''et al.'', ...
, French mathematician
*
Laurent Schwartz
Laurent-Moïse Schwartz (; 5 March 1915 – 4 July 2002) was a French mathematician. He pioneered the theory of Distribution (mathematics), distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function. He was awar ...
, 1950
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place e ...
,
*
Justin E. H. Smith, author and professor of history and philosophy of science
*
George Fitzgerald Smoot,
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...
2006
for the discovery of anisotropies in the
cosmic microwave background radiation
The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dar ...
*
Yazdan Yazdanpanah, infectiologist
*
Stefano Zacchiroli, Former
Debian
Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...
Project Leader
References
External links
University homepageMap of facilities
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris 07, Paris Diderot University
1970 establishments in France
2019 disestablishments in France
Universities descended from the University of Paris
Universities and colleges established in 1970
Educational institutions disestablished in 2019