In this presentation the author narrates some key episodes of his life of serving the IAU for more than seventy years.

Astronomy, more than most sciences, requires an international collaboration. It is the duty of the IAU to insure, between astronomers of the whole world, scientific and human relations. Less than 1,000 astronomers at the time (1946) of my first papers, more than 10,000 today: this means many international collaborations, and many faithful friendships, through several General Assemblies, and many Symposia and Colloquia. To the young astronomers, I must only wish : Cheer up !

Not being able to participate to the XXXth General Assembly in Vienna, the author sent a video presentation (available on the Vienna GA web site), and also provided a spoken text (in French) that was rendered in written form by a voice-to-text software. This text, a recollection of the author’s life “inside the IAU”, was then translated and formatted by Chris Sterken. The English version follows; the original French text is included as an Appendix.