Both a physician and a researcher, he was known worldwide for the scientific, medical and societal significance of his work on the role of steroid hormones. “Her research was guided by her commitment to the progress made possible by science, her commitment to women’s freedom, and her desire to enable everyone to live better, longer lives,” recalled his wife Simone Harari Baulieu in a press release.
"Few French people have changed the world to such an extent. Resistance fighter, research genius, defender of contraception, inventor of an abortion pill, Étienne-Emile Baulieu was a spirit of progress who allowed women to conquer their freedom.", reacted President Emmanuel Macron on X. "We have lost a courageous scout."
"A true activist for women's rights"
"Étienne-Emile Baulieu has been guided by one requirement throughout his life: that of human dignity," declared the Minister for Equality between Women and Men, Aurore Bergé, on the same network. Praising "a committed man," the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, emphasized that "women owe him a lot."
For the Abortion in Europe collective, it was "a true activist for women's rights" which has enabled many women to be able to "choose to have an abortion today in the world."
Born on December 12, 1926 in Strasbourg, Etienne Blum took the name Émile Baulieu when he joined the Resistance, at only 15 years old. Doctor of Medicine (1955) and Doctor of Science (1963), endocrinologist, he founded research unit 33 at Inserm in 1963, for work on hormones, which he directed until 1997 and within which he worked until the end.
He is particularly known for the development of RU 486 in 1982. This abortion pill revolutionized the lives of millions of women around the world by offering them the possibility of medically induced abortion. He then faced fierce criticism and even threats from opponents of women's right to control their reproduction.
Two years ago, he expressed his regret to AFP, who met him in his laboratory, about the banning of this pill in an American state, speaking of a "setback for women's freedom." A "backwards" betraying, according to him, “fanaticism and ignorance.”
Until the end, the desire to"to be useful"
His research on DHEA, the hormone whose secretion and anti-aging activity he discovered, also led him to work on neurosteroids (nervous system steroids). He also developed a treatment for depression, for which a clinical trial is underway in several university hospitals.
In his office at Inserm at the Kremlin-Bicêtre University Hospital, which he continued to occupy three times a week, and where photos, diplomas and binders containing "a lifetime's work", or even sculptures offered by his friend Niki de Saint-Phalle, he expressed, until the end, the desire to"to be useful."
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In 2008, he founded the Baulieu Institute to understand, prevent, and treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. His research targeted the tau protein along with another protein, FKBP52, which he had discovered and which is naturally present in the body.
"There is no reason why we cannot find treatments," this great optimist told AFP. “It feels good to find something when you do this job,” he had declared, listing his hobbyhorses: “women, brain health, longevity.”
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, he received numerous awards in France. In the United States, he was awarded the Lasker Prize, the highest American scientific distinction. Remarried to Simone Harari Baulieu, he was widowed by Yolande Compagnon. He leaves behind three children, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.
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