Dr. Philippe Gignoux was born on March 1, 1913 in a village between Lyon and Vienna. He completed his secondary education under Catholic fathers in Rhone. From In 1953-55 he lived in the Kurdish section of Iraq in order to learn Syriac, Kurdish, and to some extent Arabic,. He then returned to France and studied Persian and Arabic at the Higher Institute of Living Oriental Languages in Paris, receiving a degree in the Persion language. This institute later changed name to the National Institute of the Language and Civilization of the Orient. At the Catholic Institute in Paris, he learned Armenian and Syriac. He is the founder and managing editor of the journal :Studia Iranica," which has been regularly published since 1972. A supplement by the name of "Cahiers de Studia Iranica" has been added to this journal (17 volumes of which has thus far been published).