Racine was born in Quebec City. He eventually obtained a bachelor's degree of Physics from Laval University in 1963. He obtained his master's and doctoral degrees (Ph.D in astronomy) in 1965 and in 1967, respectively, from the University of Toronto. He achieved a research scholarship at the Carnegie Institute.
Between 1967 and 1969, he was Carnegie Fellow at the Mount Wilson and Palomar observatories near Pasadena, California. He then operated the Mt. Mégantic Observatory during the years of 1976–1980, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope during 1980–1984, before returning to Mt. Mégantic Observatory for the years of 1984–1997.[2]
In 1994, he with five others, recalibrated the value of the Hubble constant, which helps to measure extragalactic distances, and the size and the age of the Universe.
On 10 February 2000, Denis Bergeron, in Val-des-Bois, was the first to discover an asteroid from Quebec. The asteroid, 45580 Renéracine, was named in honor of Racine.[2]
Racine was a member of the Order of Canada, but on 1 June 2009, he Racine resigned from it to protest Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order. Racine remained in the Ordre National du Québec.[3]
