Cabannes studied at the Lycée de Nice and entered the
École Normale Supérieure in 1906. From 1910 to 1914, Cabannes worked in the laboratory of
Charles Fabry at
Aix-Marseille University on the topic launched by
Lord Rayleigh at the end of the 19th century of how
gas molecules diffused
light. In 1914, he showed that pure gases could scatter light. This was published in
Comptes Rendus in 1915. His career was then interrupted for five years by
World War I. In 1919, Cabannes returned to Fabry's laboratory to complete his thesis, after which he moved to
University of Montpellier, and later on to
University of Paris. In 1925 he and
Jean Dufay calculated the height of the
ozone layer. Cabannes along with
Pierre Daure and
Yves Rocard were among the scientists who, in 1928, discovered that gases diffusing monochromatic light could also change their wavelength (the
Cabannes-Daure effect). This was identified independently by
C. V. Raman and
K. S. Krishnan in liquids, and by
G. S. Landsberg and
L. I. Mandelstam in crystals. Cabannes was among the candidates for the
Nobel Prize in Physics of 1929 (proposed by
Charles Fabry), which was awarded to
de Broglie and the 1930 prize went to
C. V. Raman. == Honors and awards ==