In 1842, archaeologist and prehistorian Jean Benoît Désiré Cochet joined the Académie de Rouen. In 1849, he was appointed inspector of historic monuments, and in 1843, he became a non-resident member of the CTHS. He joined the Commission de Topographie des Gaules as a correspondent in the 1860s. Along with Jacques Boucher de Perthes, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of archaeology as a scientific discipline.