The son of a diplomat, René Seydoux was born in 1903. In 1928 he became Secretary General and subsequently Dean of the École des sciences politiques.

In 1937 he took up a post in the electrical oil-prospection company founded by Conrad et Marcel Schlumberger.

He spent the war years as a prisoner in a German officers’ camp, where he sustained a spirit of resistance.
When France was liberated, he returned to Schlumberger, becoming its President in 1953.

René Seydoux died in 1973. He was the instigator of a great many initiatives aimed at fostering understanding between people.