Judith Robinson-Valéry (1 July 1933 – June 29, 2010) was the foundation professor of French and the head of the School of Western European Languages at the University of New South Wales and later a director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. She was an important scholar on the thought and creativity of the French poet, essayist and philosopher Paul Valéry. Early life and education Robinson-Valéry was born Judith Ogilvie White on July 1, 1933 in Canberra. Her father was Harold White (later Sir Harold White), Australia's national librarian and Commonwealth parliamentary librarian for 25 years. Her mother was Elizabeth who received an MBE for her services to the aged. After matriculating from Canberra High School at the age of fifteen, she studied at Sydney University from 1950 until 1953. She was a resident of The Women's College (at that time led by the dynamic principal Betty Archdale). In 1954 she graduated with first class honours and was awarded the university medal in French. She undertook research for a doctorate at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. The subject was the French philosopher and moralist Alain (Émile-Auguste Chartier). She was awarded her doctorate with the highest distinction and in 1958 her thesis was published as Alain, lecteur de Balzac et de Stendhal. She was elected in 1958 to a research fellowship at Girton College, Cambridge. In this period she commenced research on the French poet, essayist and philosopher Paul Valéry, publishing a number of articles on the latter's Cahiers (Notebooks) and, in 1963, a book on the subject entitled L'Analyse de l'esprit dans les Cahiers de Valéry, which "undertook for the first time to trace the relevance of mathematical and scientific models in Valéry’s intellectual system with reference to subjects such as time, memory, dream, poetry and ethics." That book was well received and resulted in an invitation from the publishing house Gallimard and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique to bring out an annotated edition of Valéry's Cahiers in the prestigious Bibliothèque de la Pléiade collection. Foundation professor In 1963 Robinson-Valéry was appointed as the foundation professor of French and the head of the School of Western European Languages at the University of New South Wales. She was "the first woman professor in Australia to head a university department" During her time at the University programmes in German, Spanish and Russian were