Lippmann was a member of the Academy of Sciences from 8 February 1886 until his death, serving as its president in 1912. In addition, he was a Foreign Member of the Royal Society of London, a member of the Bureau des Longitudes, and a member of the Grand Ducal Institute of Luxembourg. He became a member of the Société française de photographie in 1892 and its president from 1896 to 1899. Lippmann was one of the founders of the Institut d'optique théorique et appliquée in France. Lippmann was the President of the Société Astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society, from 1903–1904.