 Brunhes was educated at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, from which he graduated as an "agrégé" qualified in physics.Appointed at Université Lille Nord de France, he taught physics and electrical engineering at École centrale de Lille from 1893 to 1895.In November 1900, he was appointed as head of the Puy-de-Dôme Observatory, built on an extinct volcano in the Auvergne region of France, where he worked until his death in 1910.