France honored one of history’s foremost pioneers of women’s rights yesterday by electing 82-year old Simone Veil to its Académie Française, the immensely prestigious governing body of the French language. While the Académie’s overarching objective – to keep the French language pure and unadulterated by Anglo influence – is sort of archaic, Veil’s accomplishments aren’t.

There is much to be said for the addition of Veil to the Académie – it’s the utmost intellectual achievement and marks only the sixth time a woman has become one of the institution's "Immortals." But here are a few of the innumerable ways in which Veil has proven she’s cooler than a centuries-old club full of white dudes:

• Arrested and deported by the Germans in 1944, Veil is a Holocaust survivor whose parents both died at Auschwitz. At yesterday's ceremony, she was presented with a sword bearing the word "Birkenau" and the prisoner number still tattooed on her arm.
• In spite of her experience during World War II, she’d go on to become the first female president of the European Parliament and pushed for political solidarity and friendship between France and Germany. Today, she’s still working toward the unification of Europe.
• As French Minister of Health, Veil helped push better and easier access to contraceptives. Her crowning achievement followed in 1975, when she won the political fight to legalize abortion in France, making her modern Europe's feminist leading lady.

Considered one of France’s leading moral figures and most revered women, the humility Veil showed in her acceptance speech yesterday is another accomplishment to tack on to the list. “The Académie Française remains the temple of the French language,” she said. “But I myself have no literary pretensions.”