Maurice Françon graduated in Physics at the Sorbonne and entered the Optics Institute in 1938. After the war, he began work at Institute of Optics, in Saint Cyr sur Mer. Later, he worked at the Sorbonne and the Institute of Optics in Paris. Throughout his career, he was a passionate and performative educator and travelled widely, both for leisure and to engage with other researchers. He is the author of a number of textbooks, articles, and lectures. He received the 1981 C.E.K. Mees Medal from OSA.

He passed away in 1996.