Son in law of physicist Marcel Laporte, assistant of Marie Curie and founder of the electronic section at the Institut du radium.
Geograph and ethnologist, author, he is the creator and editor of the Terre humaine collection.
Malaurie did his postgraduate studies in the Institut de Géographie de l'Université de Paris, under Professor Emmanuel de Martonne who, some 15 years earlier, had also taught to Julien Gracq.
Jean Malaurie became a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Arctic polar issues.
Malaurie was made a commander of the Légion d'honneur of France and was awarded the Great Gold Medal of Saint-Petersburg.