French historian. He had taught for many years at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris. Paris had an original and atypical research path - at the crossroads of various disciplines. A curious and polyglot spirit, his interests in Italian politics and culture intersected with an interest in Latin American history and culture. A work of great commitment that took up many years of Robert's intellectual life was also the complete translation of the notebooks from Gramsci's prison, directed and edited by him with great originality, as evidenced by the richness of the critical apparatus of notes as well as his wide-ranging introduction to the last of the five volumes published in Gallimard's prestigious Bibliothèque de philosophie. Finally, as regards Latin America, in addition to the writings relating to Mariategui and his universe, in the last years of his active life he was working on a Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier d 'Amérique latine.