Patrice Louis René Higonnet (born 3 February 1938) is a French author, historian, and retired professor who currently serves as a Robert Walton Goelet Research Professor of French History at Harvard University.^[1] He previously taught European history.

This biography of a living person relies on a single source. (November 2018)

Higonnet was born in Saint Cloud, France.^{[citation needed]} Higonnet's parents were René Alphonse Higonnet and Thérèse Higonnet (née David).^{[citation needed]}

Higonnet's second wife, Ethel Higonnet, was raped and murdered in Longfellow Park in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1973.^[2]

Higonnet subsequently married University of Connecticut professor Margaret Higonnet (née Cardwell) in 1976.^{[citation needed]} He has three children.^{[citation needed]}