We are losing with Pierre Chaunu one of the greatest historians of our time, a tireless worker who leaves behind an immense work, especially on Spain, which was very dear to him. The publication of the twelve volumes of his thesis on Seville and the Atlantic has been for many scholars a true revelation.
Pierre Chaunu has established himself as the inventor of a new way of making history, quantitative and serial history. Using mathematics, economics, statistics, and especially demography, he interpreted the figures in the way few historians had done before him to understand the profound trends in history on the «long term».
This born and recognized professor, member of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences and of the High Council for Integration, was at the same time a committed man. He was one of the first to highlight what the demographic situation in Europe may have to worry about for our future.
This great historian was not a man of the past. He thought passionately of future generations, to whom he wished to transmit the achievements of this form of heritage that is our civilization.