 In 1831, César Despretz was briefly appointed to the chair of physics at Polytechnique to replace Claude Pouillet (1791-1868) who had resigned for health reasons after only a few months in office.Despretz was succeeded by Gabriel Lamé (1795-1870) who would hold the position from 1832 to 1844.In 1837, he was appointed adjunct professor of physics at the Faculté des sciences de Paris.