Famous People

Actors

• Isabelle Adjani
• Renée Adorée
• Anouk Aimée
• Arletty
• Antonin Artaud
• Fanny Ardant
• Jeanne Aubert//
• Jean-Pierre Aumont
• Claude Autant-Lara
• Daniel Auteuil
• Charles Aznavour
• Brigitte Bardot
• Emmanuelle Béart
• Jean-Paul Belmondo
• Charles Berling
• Suzanne Bianchetti
• Juliette Binoche
• Bernard Blier
• Sandrine Bonnaire
• Élodie Bouchez
• Bourvil
• Charles Boyer
• Guillaume Canet
• Capucine
• Martine Carol
• Leslie Caron
• Vincent Cassel
• Béatrice Dalle
• Lili Damita
• Danny
• Danielle Darrieux
• Alain Delon
• Danièle Delorme
• Julie Delpy
• Catherine Deneuve
• Gérard Depardieu
• Patrick Dewaere
• Arielle Dombasle
• Michel Drucker
• Anny Dupérey
• Elisa-Rachel Félix (Rachel)
• Fernandel
• Brigitte Fossey
• Louis de Funès
• Félicité du Jeu
• Jean Gabin
• Annie Girardot
• Judith Godrèche
• Eva Green
• Sacha Guitry
• Isabelle Huppert
• Irène Jacob
• Valérie Kaprisky
• Jean-Pierre Léaud
• Virginie Ledoyen
• Max Linder
• Marcel Marceau
• Sophie Marceau
• Jean Marais
• Jean-Baptiste Maunier
• Miou-Miou
• Mistinguett
• Yves Montand
• Jeanne Moreau
• Michèle Morgan
• Musidora
• Gérard Philipe
• Michel Piccoli
• Alexia Portal
• Clemence Poesy
• Yvonne Printemps
• Pérette Pradier
• Gabrielle Réjane
• Jean Reno
• Pierre Richard
• Jean Rochefort
• Béatrice Romand
• Philippine de Rothschild
• Nathalie Roussel
• Michel Roux
• Cheril Sanchez
• Emmanuelle Seigner
• Delphine Seyrig
• Simone Signoret
• Audrey Tautou
• Jean-Louis Trintignant
• Marie Trintignant
• Gaspard Ulliel
• Michael Vartan
• Hervé Villechaize
• Emma Watson

Architects

• Étienne-Louis Boullée
• Le Corbusier pseudonym for Charles Edouard Jeanneret (Swiss-born)
• Philibert Delorme
• Pierre Francois Leonard Fontaine
• Ange-Jacques Gabriel
• Tony Garnier
• Hector Guimard
• Pierre Jeanneret (Swiss-born)
• Henri Labrouste
• Claude Nicolas Ledoux
• Pierre Lescot
• Francois Mansart
• Jules Hardouin Mansart
• Jean Nouvel
• Charles Percier
• Claude Perrault
• Auguste Perret
• Jacques Germain Soufflot
• Louis Le Vau
• Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
• Alain Provost

Athletes

• André the Giant - professional wrestler
• Sarah Abitbol - pairs figure skater (with S. Bernadis)
• Tariq Abdul-Wahad - basketball player (born Olivier Saint-Jean)
• Louis Acaries - boxer, former world title challenger, now promoter
• Luc Alphand - Alpine skier
• Jacques Anquetil - cyclist
• Fabien Barthez - football player
• Stephane Bernadis - pairs figure skater (with S. Abitbol)
• Serge Betsen - Cameroon born French citizen, rugby player
• Alexandre Biamonti - French Karate World Champion
• Serge Blanco - Venezuela born French citizen, rugby player
• Louison Bobet - cyclist
• Surya Bonaly - figure skater
• Andrée Brunet & Pierre Brunet - 1928 & 1932 Olympic skating Gold Medalists
• Philippe Candeloro - figure skater
• Eric Cantona - football player
• Georges Carpentier - world champion boxer
• Marcel Cerdan - world champion boxer
• Eugène Christophe - cyclist
• Eugene Criqui - world champion boxer
• Jean Cruguet - jockey of Seattle Slew
• Richard Dacoury - basketball player
• Emile Delahaye - race car pioneer
• Marcel Desailly - Ghana born French citizen, football player
• David Douillet - judo
• Isabelle Duchesnay & Paul Duchesnay - ice dancers
• André Fabre - horse trainer
• Laurent Fignon - cyclist
• Just Fontaine - football player
• Jacques Fouroux - rugby union player and coach
• Pierre Galle - basketball player - basketball coach
• Lucien Gaudin - fencer
• Thierry Henry - football player
• Bernard Hinault - cyclist
• Cristobal Huet - hockey player
• Constant Huret - cyclist
• Olivier Jacque - motorcycle rider
• Rene Jacquot - boxer, underdog who became world champion
• Laurent Jalabert - cyclist
• Brian Joubert - figure skater
• Jean-Claude Killy - skier
• Raymond Kopa - football player
• Pascal Lavanchy - ice dancer (with S. Moniotte)
• Suzanne Lenglen - tennis player
• Bixente Lizarazu - football player
• Jeannie Longo - cyclist
• André Mahé - cyclist
• Laure Manaudou - swimmer
• Amélie Mauresmo - tennis player
• Jean Max - Formula 1 driver
• Jose Meiffret - cyclist
• Eric Millot - figure skater
• Alain Mimoun - athlete
• Sophie Moniotte - ice dancer (with P. Lavanchy)
• Antoine Monteiro - boxer, lost to Santos Laciar for the world title
• Carole Montillet - skier
• Hellé Nice - pioneer female race car driver
• Yannick Noah - tennis player
• Tony Parker - Belgian born French citizen, basketball player
• Gwendal Peizerat - ice dancer
• Marie-José Perec - athlete
• Mary Pierce- Canadian born French citizen, tennis player
• Julien Pillet - fencer
• Michel Platini - football player
• Alain Prost - automobile racer
• Antoine Rigaudeau - basketball player
• Georges Stern - thoroughbred racing jockey
• Marcel Thil - world champion boxer
• Christophe Tiozzo - world champion boxer
• Fabrice Tiozzo - world champion boxer, Christophe's brother
• David Trézéguet - football player
• Damien Touya - fencer
• Patrick Vieira - Senegal born French citizen, football player
• Richard Virenque - Morocco born French citizen, cyclist
• Roger Walkowiak - cyclist
• Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
• Zinedine Zidane - football player

Authors

• Marcel Achard - playwright and scriptwriter
• Alain-Fournier
• Jean Anouilh - 20th century dramatist
• Guillaume Apollinaire - (born Russian) poet
• Antonin Artaud
• Honoré de Balzac - realist author
• Henri Barbusse
• Charles Baudelaire, 19th century poet
• Pierre Beaumarchais, comedy playwright
• Simone de Beauvoir - 20th century author
• Cyrano de Bergerac
• Georges Bernanos
• Tristan Bernard
• Maurice Blanchot
• Antoine Blondin
• Nicolas Boileau
• Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
• Pierre Boulle
• Fernand Braudel
• André Breton
• Restif de la Bretonne
• Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
• Michel Butor
• Albert Camus - existentialist author
• Louis-Ferdinand Céline - 20th century author
• Blaise Cendrars
• Aimé Césaire- 20th century author
• Nicolas Chamfort
• René Char, 20th century poet
• François-René de Chateaubriand
• Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Emil Cioran
• Paul Claudel
• Jean Cocteau - 20th century poet and playwright
• Colette- 20th century author
• Benjamin Constant
• Pierre Corneille - classicist playwright
• Darry Cowl
• Marquis de Custine - travel writer
• Robert Desnos - 20th century poet
• Denis Diderot
• Alexandre Dumas, père, Author
• Alexandre Dumas, fils - Playwright/author
• Marguerite Duras - 20th century novelist
• Vanessa Duriès
• Mircea Eliade
• Paul Eluard
• Mylène Farmer - Singer
• Frantz Fanon - 20th century author, psychiatrist
• Léon-Paul Fargue
• Georges Feydeau
• Marc Ferro
• Amanda Filipacchi - novelist (French and U.S. citizenship, writes in English)
• Alain Finkielkraut - essayist
• Gustave Flaubert - realist author
• Anatole France
• Marie de France - poet
• Romain Gary
• Jean Genet
• André Gide, Nobel Prize Winner
• Jean Giono
• Jean Giraudoux
• Françoise Giroud
• Julien Gracq
• Julien Green
• Pierre Guyotat
• Auguste Himly, historian
• Victor Hugo - novelist, poet, and playwright
• Joris-Karl Huysmans
• Eugène Ionesco
• Jules-Gabriel Janin -author and theatre critic
• Alain Jouffroy - poet, art critic, plastician
• Jean de La Bruyère
• Jean de La Fontaine
• Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse)
• Villiers de L'Isle-Adam
• Leconte de Lisle - parnassian poet
• Alphonse de Lamartine
• Jacques Lacan - psychoanalyst
• Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie - historian
• Paul Lafargue
• Jules Laforgue
• Jennifer Lamiraqui
• Valéry Larbaud
• Maurice Leblanc, created Arsène Lupin
• Gaston Leroux- author of Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera)
• Stéphane Mallarmé - poet
• Hector Malot - 19th century author
• André Malraux
• Matthieu Marais - 18th century lawyer and writer
• Marcel Marceau - 20th century mime (and member of the French Resistance in World War II)
• Pierre de Marivaux - playwright
• Clément Marot - poet
• Guy de Maupassant novelist
• François Mauriac - Roman Catholic writer
• Prosper Mérimée - 19th century novelist
• Catherine Millet - art expert, editor and erotic memoirist
• Patrick Modiano
• Jean Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière - 17th century comedic playwright and actor
• Alfred de Musset - 19th century poet
• Anaïs Nin
• Michel Ohl- 20th century poet and novelist
• Marcel Pagnol
• Charles Péguy - 20th century poet
• Charles Perrault - Mother Goose Tales
• Georges Perec
• Saint-John Perse
• Roger Peyrefitte
• Jean Piaget - psychologist
• Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
• Jacques Prévert - 20th century poet
• Abbé Prévost
• Marcel Prevost
• Marcel Proust - novelist
• Raymond Queneau
• François Rabelais - Renaissance writer
• Raymond Radiguet
• Jean Racine - classicist playwright
• Pauline Réage, novelist
• Arthur Rimbaud - symbolist poet
• Alain Robbe-Grillet
• Pierre de Ronsard
• Edmond Rostand - neo-romantic playwright
• Raymond Roussel
• Maximilien Rubel
• Marquis de Sade - erotic and philosophic author
• Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
• George Sand - feminist author
• Jean Paul Sartre - 20th century existentialist philosopher
• Nathalie Sarraute
• Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
• Victor Segalen
• Madame de Sévigné
• Madame de Staël
• Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator.
• Claude Simon
• Stendhal - novelist (born Henry Beyle)
• François Truffaut - 20th century filmmaker
• Paul Valéry - 20th century poet
• Vercors
• Paul Verlaine - symbolist poet
• Jules Verne - novelist
• Boris Vian - 20th century author
• Alfred de Vigny - 19th century poet
• François Villon
• Voltaire
• Marguerite Yourcenar
• Émile Zola - naturalist author

Aviators

• Clément Ader
• Jacqueline Auriol
• Louis Blériot
• Henry Farman
• Georges Guynemer
• Raymonde de Laroche
• Joseph Le Brix
• Marie Marvingt
• Jean Mermoz
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author and aviator.
• Roland Garros, First to cross the Mediterranean Sea. French Open is named after him.

Business

• Bernard Arnault (born 1949), entrepreneur
• Liliane Bettencourt, cosmetics, one of the richest persons in Europe
• Marcel Bich, (1914-1994), Bic pens
• Vincent Bolloré (born 1952), transportation and engineering
• Marcel Boussac, textiles, fashion, newspapers, race horse breeding
• Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947), automobile manufacturer
• André Citroën (1878-1935), automobile manufacturer
• Marcel Dassault (1892-1986), aviation
• Alexandre Darracq (1855-1931), automotive pioneer
• Louis Delâge (1874-1947) automotive pioneer
• Emile Delahaye (1843-1905), automotive pioneer
• Gerard LeBlond (born 1956), CEO & Founder of Alonyx VI, Inc.
• Philippe Camus Former EADS co-CEO
• Gerard Louis-Dreyfus (born 1932), agricultural commodities
• Eleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771-1834), founder of DuPont
• Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), entrepreneur
• Jacques Foccart (19..-1997), import-export
• Léon Gaumont, pioneer film inventor
• Paul-Louis Halley (1934-2004), supermarket tycoon
• Max Hymans (1900-1961), aviation
• Gérard LeBlond (born 1956), founder and publisher of West-Gate Publishing
• Jean-Marie Messier (born 1957), former Vivendi CEO
• Gérard Mestrallet (born 1949), Chairman and CEO of SUEZ
• Gérard Mulliez, entrepreneur (Auchan, Decathlon, Flunch...), whose family is considered as one of the richest in Europe
• Charles Pathé, pioneer of film industry
• François Pinault (born 1936), entrepreneur
• Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (1726-1803), shipping magnate and a "Father of the American Revolution"
• Marcel Renault (1872-1903), automobile manufacturer
• James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868), banker
• Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988), wine maker
• Eugene Schueller (1881-1954), founder of L'Oreal
• Bernard Tapie (born 1943), entrepreneur

Chefs

• Austin Olin
• Raymond Blanc
• Paul Bocuse
• Daniel Boulud
• Michael Bras
• Alexandre Brault
• Marie-Antoine Carême
• Chiboust
• Alain Ducasse
• Adolf Dugléré
• Urbain Dubois
• Auguste Escoffier
• Pierre Gagnaire
• Michel Guérard
• Victor Hirtzler
• Laguipière
• Jacques Lameloise
• Philippe Legendre
• Jacques Pepin
• Georges Perrier
• Jean-Francois Piège
• Fernand Point
• Charles Ranhofer
• Eric Rippert
• Joël Robuchon
• Albert Roux
• Michel Roux
• Guy Savoy
• Alain Solivérès
• François Vatel
• Marc Veyrat
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten

Composers

• Georges Auric
• Hector Berlioz
• Georges Bizet - composer of Carmen
• Pierre Boulez - avant-garde composer
• Marc Antoine Charpentier
• François Couperin
• Michel Richard Delalande
• Georges Delerue
• Claude Debussy - Impressionist composer
• Paul Dukas - composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Henri Duparc
• Gabriel Fauré
• César Franck - also considered Belgian
• Jean-Jacques Goldman*
• Reynaldo Hahn
• Pierre Henry - writer of musique concrète and electronic music
• Jean Michel Jarre
• Maurice Jarre - film music composer
• Michel Legrand
• Jean François Lesueur
• Jean Baptiste Lully, court composer to Louis XIV
• Olivier Messiaen
• Darius Milhaud
• Jacques Offenbach - noted for his operettas
• Gabriel Pierné
• Francis Poulenc
• Jean Philippe Rameau
• Maurice Ravel
• Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle - composer of "La Marseillaise", French National Anthem
• Edmond Roussel
• Camille Saint-Saëns
• Erik Satie composer of Musiques d'ameublement
• Pierre Schaeffer - inventor of musique concrète
• Florent Schmitt
• Les Six - group of composers
• Germaine Tailleferre
• Charles-Marie Widor

Dancers

• Jane Avril
• La Goulue
• Sylvie Guillem
• Marcelle Lender
• Cléo de Mérode
• Hellé Nice
• François Perron
• Marie-Claude Pietragalla
• Roland Petit

Fashion

• Liliane Bettencourt, majority owner of L'Oreal, one of the wealthiest people in Europe
• Pierre Cardin - Fashion Designer
• Coco Chanel - fashion designer
• Hubert de Givenchy
• Christian Dior - fashion designer
• Julien Fournié
• Jean-Paul Gaultier
• Madame Grey
• Daniel Hechter - inventor of ready-to-wear
• Paul Poiret
• Yves Saint-Laurent - fashion designer

Filmmakers

• Olivier Assayas
• Jacques Becker
• Jean-Jacques Beineix
• Luc Besson
• Alice Guy-Blaché
• Bertrand Blier
• Catherine Breillat
• Robert Bresson
• André Cayatte
• René Clair
• René Clément
• Henri-Georges Clouzot
• Jean Cocteau
• Fabien Cousteau
• Jacques-Yves Cousteau
• Jacques Demy
• Henri Diamant-Berger
• Abel Gance
• Jean-Luc Godard
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Mathieu Kassovitz
• Jan Kounen
• Patrice Leconte
• Claude Lelouch
• Louis Malle
• André Malraux
• Georges Méliès
• Maurice Pialat
• Jean Renoir
• Alain Resnais
• Yves Robert
• Jean Rollin
• Alain Sarde
• Claude Sautet
• Jacques Tati
• Jacques Tourneur
• Maurice Tourneur
• François Truffaut
• Roger Vadim
• Agnès Varda
• Jean Vigo

Humorists

• Coluche
• Jean-Marie Bigard
• Francis Blanche
• Alain Chabat
• Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker
• Jamel Debbouze
• Pierre Desproges
• Franck Dubosc
• Eric et Ramzy
• Thierry Le Luron
• Elie Semoun

Military Leaders

• Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), commander and Saint
• Marquis de la Fayette, military leader in the American Revolution

Musicians

• Air (band)
• Alizée
• Charles Aznavour
• Josephine Baker, American born entertainer
• Jane Bathori, opera singer
• Barbara
• Guy Béart
• Michel Berger
• Lucienne Boyer
• Georges Brassens
• Aristide Bruant
• Manu Chao
• Daft Punk
• Dalida
• Damia
• Marie Dubas
• Jacques Dutronc
• Mylène Farmer
• Léo Ferré
• Nino Ferrer
• Claude François - popular singer 1960s-1970s
• Fréhel
• France Gall
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Gipsy Kings
• Georgius
• Jean-Jacques Goldman
• Stéphane Grappelli - jazz musician
• Juliette Gréco
• Gribouille (Marie-France Gaîté)
• Yvette Guilbert
• Johnny Hallyday - born in Belgium, served in the French army
• David Hallyday
• Françoise Hardy
• Joëlle
• Kassav'
• Kiki - "Queen of Montparnasse"
• La Goulue
• Gérard LeBlond - musician, drummer and author
• Claudine Longet
• Luis Mariano
• Anna Marly
• Didier Marouani - musician and composer
• Félix Mayol
• Mireille Mathieu
• Mireille
• Mistinguett
• Ginette Neveu
• Yannick Noah
• NTM
• Noir Désir
• Vanessa Paradis
• Pierre Perret
• Pierpoljak
• Patricia Kaas
• Michel Petrucciani
• Édith Piaf
• Lily Pons - opera singer (naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1940)
• Tino Rossi
• Les Têtes Raides
• Jean Sablon
• Alain Souchon
• Charles Trenet
• Christian Vander
• Sylvie Vartan
• Pauline Garcia-Viardot
• Jossé Lajoie
• Zazie

Painters

• Jean René Bazaine
• Maurice Boitel
• François Boucher
• Pierre Brissaud
• Bernard Buffet
• Gustave Caillebotte
• Paul Cézanne
• Pierre Puvis de Chavannes
• Jules Chéret
• Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
• Gustave Courbet
• Thomas Couture
• Jacques Louis David
• Edgar Degas
• Georges de la Tour
• Eugène Delacroix
• Robert Delaunay
• André Derain
• Marcel Duchamp
• Suzanne Duchamp
• Henri Fantin-Latour
• Jean-Honoré Fragonard
• Antonio de La Gandara
• Paul Gauguin
• Jean-Baptiste Gros
• Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
• Charles de La Tour
• Georges Lacombe
• Gerard LeBlond
• Fernand Léger
• Edouard Manet
• Henri Matisse
• Claude Monet
• Gustave Moreau
• Berthe Morisot
• Gen Paul
• Francis Picabia
• Camille Pissarro
• Nicolas Poussin
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Georges Seurat
• Nicolas de Staël
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• Maurice Utrillo
• Suzanne Valadon
• Horace Vernet
• Jacques Villon
• Philippe Watteau
• Félix Ziem

Philosophers

• Louis Althusser
• Raymond Aron - sociologist & philosopher
• Jean le Rond d'Alembert
• Gaston Bachelard
• Georges Bataille
• Roland Barthes
• Jean Baudrillard - philosopher and sociologist
• Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist
• Julien Benda
• Henri Bergson
• Emile Boutroux
• Michel de Certeau
• André Comte-Sponville
• Jean de Crèvecoeur
• Guy Debord
• Gilles Deleuze
• Jacques Derrida
• René Descartes - scientist and philosopher
• Denis Diderot - Enlightenment author and atheist philosopher
• Michel Foucault
• Félix Guattari
• Vladimir Jankelevitch
• Étienne de La Boétie - philosopher and politician
• Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
• Henri Lefèbvre
• Marcel Légaut - Christian philosopher
• Jean de Léry - corsaire and ethnologist, anti-racism acivist
• Emmanuel Lévinas
• Jean-François Lyotard
• Nicolas Malebranche
• Gabriel Marcel - philosopher
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty - phenomenologist
• Michel de Montaigne - philosopher essayist
• Montesquieu, political philosopher
• Edgar Morin
• Emmanuel Mounier - philosopher
• Jean Luc Nancy - philosopher
• Blaise Pascal - scientist, Christian philosopher and author
• Jean-François Revel
• Paul Ricoeur
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Jean-Paul Sartre - existentialist philosopher
• Michel Serres
• François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) - Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher
• Eric Weil - philosopher
• Simone Weil

Photographers

• Raymond Depardon
• Robert Doisneau
• Bernard Plossu
• Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Politicians

• Robert Badinter - lawyer, statesman and anti death sentence activist
• François Bayrou - UDF party leader
• Léon Blum - politician, Socialist party leader, prime minister
• José Bové - altermondialist
• Aristide Briand
• Jacques Chirac - politician, member of center-right wing party, former city mayor of Paris, three-term French president
• Georges Clemenceau
• Gaspard de Coligny
• Bertrand Delanoë
• Jacques Delors
• Félix Faure, President of France who died of a heart attack while making love to his mistress
• Charles de Gaulle - World War II general, commander of the Free French Forces, heroic French president
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
• Guizot, Prime Minister
• Gisèle Halimi lawyer and feminist activist
• François Hollande - PS (Socialist Party) leader
• Jean Jaurès, politician, pacifist
• Lionel Jospin
• Bernard Kouchner - founder of Medecins du Monde and other "French Doctors"
• Jean-Marie Le Pen - Leader of the extreme right party in France, Front National, presidential candidate
• Jean-Claude Martinez, lawyer and European deputy
• Émile Loubet, President of France that elected in 1899, after the death of Félix Faure
• Pierre Mendès-France - Lawyer and Statesman, prime minister
• Honoré Mirabeau
• François Mitterrand - Lawyer and Statesman, president
• Jean Monnet
• Henri Philippe Pétain - Head of Vichy France
• Alexandre de Prouville, Viceroy of New France
• Ségolène Royal - politician, Socialist party, presidential candidate
• Nicolas Sarkozy - politician, President of the right wing party, presidential candidate
• Victor Schoelcher - anti-slavery activist
• Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
• Maurice Thorez
• Jacques Toubon
• Dominique de Villepin - Prime Minister of France
• Dominique Voynet - Physician and Green party politician

Scientists

• Jean-Loup Bertaux, (CNRS)
• Alain Connes - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1982
• Pierre Curie, Chimist
• Jean Dausset, biologist, Nobel prize winner 1980
• Guillaume Delisle, cartographer
• René Descartes - scientist and philosopher
• Girard Desargues - mathematician
• Pierre Drossard - astrophysician
• Georges Duby - historian
• Robert Debré - physician
• Pierre de Fermat - mathematician
• Hervé Faye - astronomer
• Joseph Fourier - mathematician and physicist
• Pierre Gassendi - philosopher mathematician
• Pierre-Gilles de Gennes - physicist, Nobel prize winner 1991
• Évariste Galois - mathematician
• Camille Guérin, biologist
• Alexander Grothendieck - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1966 (German-born)
• Joseph-Ignace Guillotin
• François Jacob - biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965
• Frédéric Joliot - physicist, Nobel prize winner 1935
• Laurent Lafforgue - mathematician; Fields Medalist 2002
• Joseph Louis Lagrange - mathematician
• Pierre-Simon Laplace - mathematician and physicist
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Gérard LeBlond - biochemist, molecular biologist
• Jean-Marie Lehn - chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1987
• Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist
• Antoine Lévi-Leblond - physicist
• Pierre-Louis Lions - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1994
• Edmond Locard
• André Lwoff - biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965
• Marcelin Berthelot, chemist
• Benoit Mandelbrot - mathematician
• Albert Mathiez - historian
• André Michaux - botanist and explorer
• Jules Michelet - historian
• Abraham de Moivre - mathematician
• Jacques Monod - biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965
• Theodore Monod - naturalist and theologian
• Philippe Morel -
• Claude Mossé - (Ms), historian
• Louis Néel - physicist, Nobel prize winner 1970
• Denis Papin
• Louis Pasteur - scientist
• Blaise Pascal - mathematician and philosopher
• Étienne Pascal - mathematician
• Henri Poincaré - mathematician and physicist
• Simeon Poisson - mathematician and physicist
• Michel Rolle - mathematician
• Francis Rocard - (CNRS)
• Jean Rostand -
• Paul Rohmer - physician
• Laurent Schwartz - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1950
• Jean-Pierre Serre - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1954
• Albert Soboul - historian
• René Thom - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1958
• Jean-Pierre Vernant - historian
• Alfred Vidal-Madjar - astrophysician
• Pierre Vidal-Naquet - historian and Civil Rights activist
• Pierre Vilar, historian
• Christophe Victor - geographer
• Paul-Emile Victor - ethnologist
• Wendelin Werner - mathematician; Fields Medalist 2006 (German-born)
• Jean-Christophe Yoccoz - mathematician; Fields Medalist 1994

Sculptors

• Frédéric Bartholdi
• Antonin Carlés
• Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
• César
• Antoine-Denis Chaudet
• Camille Claudel
• Paul Dubois
• Raymond Duchamp-Villon
• Alexandre Falguière
• Jean Antoine Houdon
• Antonin Idrac
• Georges Lacombe
• Antonin Mercié
• Hippolyte Moulin
• Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
• Auguste Préault
• Auguste Rodin
• Francois Rude
• Niki de Saint Phalle

Social Activists

• Hubertine Auclert - journalist and feminist leader
• Simone de Beauvoir - author, philosopher, and feminist
• Sophie de Condorcet - feminist
• Maria Deraismes - feminist
• Marguerite Durand - journalist and feminist leader
• Olympe de Gouges - feminist
• Samir Kassir - journalist
• Jean Theophile Victor Leclerc - radical revolutionist, newspaper publisher
• Victor Schoelcher - Abolisionist
• Pierre Seel - homosexual concentration camp survivor, activist, author
• Séverine - feminist
• Flora Tristan - feminist

Other Famous French People

• Louis Braille, blind inventor
• Charles Cros, poet and inventor
• Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), commander and Saint
• Jeanne Calment, who reached the longest lifespan in human history at 122 years and 164 days
• André Charles Boulle, cabinet maker
• Jean René Champion, first Free French Forces soldier to enter the city of Paris on its' liberation in August 1944.
• Pierre de Coubertin, initiator of the modern Olympic Games
• Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt
• Ninon de l'Enclos, courtesan, patron of the arts
• Cavalier de la Salle, explorer
• Marcel Deprez, electrical engineer
• René Dumont, agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
• Jules Dumont d'Urville
• Maurice Duverger, jurist
• Jean-Baptiste Ebrard, founder of Liverpool, a chain of department stores in Mexico
• Gustave Eiffel, engineer
• Pierre Charles L'Enfant, planned Washington, D.C.
• Charles Michel de l'Épée, founder of world's first public school for deaf people
• Marquis de la Fayette, military leader in the American Revolution
• Arthur de Gobineau, diplomat, author of An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races
• Richard Grimstead, warrior
• Paul Héroult, inventor
• Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans, designed the first steamship in 1783
• René Lalique, artist
• Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds, explorer and canal engineer
• Auguste and Louis Lumière, inventors
• Jean Paul Marat
• Jacques Mayol, freediver
• Marcel Mazoyer, agronomist
• Montgolfier brothers, balloonists
• Jean-Marie Pelt, botanist
• Elisée Reclus, geographer and anarchist
• César Ritz, hotelier
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, magician, namesake of "Harry Houdini"
• Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
• Philippe Starck, designer
• Vauban, engineer
• François Henri de la Motte, French spy executed for treason 1781 in London