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I read the biography of a French-born scientist-turned-entrepreneur Philippe Kahn. It says that Philippe Kahn received the “French equivalent of a Ph.D. certified by the French Academy of Sciences”.

I discovered an article about Kahn which says that he earned the equivalent of a doctorate, but not the degree. In yet another article, I read that he holds an agregation de mathematiques, and this is the French equivalent of a doctorate. I am rather baffled at all this, since Wikipedia clearly indicates that agregation has nothing to do with the equivalent of a doctorate. Can you explain what Kahn's biographers mean by “the French equivalent of a Ph.D.”? And if this is the degree then why should it be certified by the academy? So far I have come to conclusion that by the equivalent they mean the D.E.A. degree

Wrzlprmft
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Anish Gupta
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    Is this question about Khan's biography specifically or about the French education system at the relevant time? – quid Aug 15 '17 at 11:22
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    After reading about Kahn, I became interested in French educational system as well. – Anish Gupta Aug 15 '17 at 11:55
  • Victor Wortman's article about Kahn says that after completing masters program in Nice, Philippe Kahn studied to get the equivalent of a doctorate, but not the degree, because to get the doctorate would require more years to get. Maybe I should edit my question to add this info too? – Anish Gupta Aug 15 '17 at 11:59
  • Could you add link to Victor Wortman's article? I can't find the one you're referring to. – JeffE Aug 15 '17 at 12:37
  • I have a PDF copy of that article. Can I attach it to comment? I got it some time ago at web.archive.org – Anish Gupta Aug 15 '17 at 12:50
  • I got it: http://archive.li/q2xY7 – Anish Gupta Aug 15 '17 at 13:14
  • Are you sure that that's the right link? It says: "Pastorale completed, Kahn went to Nice, where he completed a masters program in mathematics. He continued to teach, to study, and to work on university-related projects, in the process accumulating the equivalent of a doctorate, but not the degree. To earn the doctorate would have required four or five years of serious research, he explains." – Nat Aug 16 '17 at 06:39
  • This Wired article from 2000 has a claim like what you described: In the 1970s, after receiving the equivalent of a PhD in mathematics, in France, Kahn worked on Pascal under Niklaus Wirth in Zurich and was a programmer for the Intel-based Micral, one of the first personal computers.. – Nat Aug 16 '17 at 06:42
  • Victor Wortman's article was what made me initially think that by "the equivalent" they mean D.E.A.. That is, from the text I deduced that the equivalent must be sth higher than masters and lower than Ph.D., so it had to be DEA. I knew nothing about Doctorat du 3ème cycle. – Anish Gupta Aug 16 '17 at 11:21

1 Answers1

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According to a 1985 biography in PC Magazine:

During his college days, Kahn played saxophone in Paris jazz clubs while earning an Agrégation de mathématique, equivalent to a Ph.D. in math.

Another 1985 PC Magazine biography states:

Kahn, who received the French equivalent of a Ph.D. in mathematics from the French Academy of Sciences, taught mathematics at the university level in Nice and Grenoble before coming to the United States.

Both Wikipedia and Kahn's LinkedIn page state only that he received a master's degree in mathematics from Université Nice Sophia Antipolis in 1975. This is not the equivalent of a Ph.D., and Sophia Antipolis is nowhere near Paris.

The agrégation de mathématiques is a competitive civil service exam used to recruit high school and university mathematics teachers. While the exam is extremely rigorous, and agrégés are qualified to teach at universities, the agrégation is not a research degree. French doctorates underwent a major reform in 1974 and again in 1984, but I believe the closest French equivalent of a Ph.D that Kahn could have earned in the late 1970s was the Doctorat du 3ème cycle.

JeffE
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