Michel Foucault (1926–84) was born in Poitiers, where his father was a prominent physician. In 1945 he studied under Jean Hyppolite at the Lycée Henri IV in preparation for the entrance examination for the École Normale Supérieure, where he began studies in 1946. He received licences in both philosophy and psychology, working with, among others, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Dissatisfied with French culture and society, Foucault was able to avoid the usual “purgatory” of lycée teaching and instead took various temporary academic posts in Sweden, Poland, and Germany from 1955 to 1960, while he completed his doctoral thesis (on madness in the Classical Age). During the 1960s Foucault held a series of positions in French universities, and in 1969 he was elected Hyppolite's successor in the Collège de France, where he chose the title “Professor of the History of Systems of Thought”. From the 1970s on, Foucault was very active politically, helping found the Groupe d'information sur les prisons and supporting protests on behalf of homosexuals and other marginalized groups. He also frequently lectured outside France, particularly in the United States, and in 1983 agreed to teach annually at the University of Caifornia at Berkeley.