The French historian Vincent Duclert is a professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Socials in Paris. He carries out research into history of modern world (19th and 20th century), specialising in social and intellectual politics, state, institutions, public politics, scientists’ civil attitudes and the history of civil movements. His books mainly deal with the history of contemporary France. Duclert has defended his doctoral thesis on the scientists’ attitude during the Dreyfus trial. He acts as a scientific supervisor to works that are concerned with the scientists’ resistance or non-resistance to the German occupation during World War Two, and how it affected the understanding of the links between scientific knowledge, state and politics.  

Duclert carries out wide investigation into the Dreyfus Affair. He has written the first Dreyfus’ biography, (Alfred Dreyfus, Fayard, 2006), a documental history of the event (Larousse, 2006, second edition 2009), a study of the process of the history of this event in the 20th century after Dryefus’ death (Dreyfus au Panthéon. Voyage au cœur de la République 1994-2006, Galaade, 2007). He has also published letters written by Dreyfus from Devil’s Island where he was imprisoned and those of his wife. Together with Perrine Simon-Nahum he has written L’affaire Dreyfus. Un événement fondateur (Armand Colin, 2009) based on the material of an international colloquium.