Emberger was born at
Thann, in
Haut-Rhin, France in 1897, which was then part of
German occupied Alsace. He developed an interest in Natural History, exploring the
Rhine plain of Alsace, and the nearby
Vosges mountains. At the age of 17, to avoid conscription into the German army, he escaped to
Lyon, in France. There he began studies in biologie at the
University of Lyon, and obtained a degree in
sciences naturelles in 1918. He obtained his doctorate under Professor Marie Antoine Alexandre Guilliermond, then head of the Department of Agricultural Botany, at Lyon. Following his studies, his first position was as an
organic chemistry technician in the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. There he produced his first publication in 1919 in the
Bulletin de la Société Botanique de France, an account of his exploration at
Grande Chartreuse. He began working as a pharmacist in 1920 and within a year had had six papers presented at the
Académie des Sciences by
Gaston Bonnier. In 1921 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the
University of Montpellier. Within five years he had been appointed head of the botany department at the
Institut scientifique de Rabat in
Morocco (1926–1936). Returning to France he was, for a short time, professor at the Faculty of Science at
Clermont-Ferrand, before once more taking a position in Montpellier, succeeding his step-father,
Charles Flahault as head of the botany department (Directeur de l'Institut botanique de l'Université et du Centre d'Etudes phytosocio-logiques de Montpellier). There he worked closely with
Josias Braun-Blanquet, also a student of Flahault. He remained in that position until his death at
St Sulpice in
Savoie in 1969. == Work ==