| Name | Occupation | Birth | Death | Known for |
| Maurice Allais |
Economist |
31-May-1911 |
9-Oct-2010 |
Monopoly pricing and the Allais effect |
| François Arago |
Physicist |
26-Feb-1786 |
2-Oct-1853 |
Investigated earth magnetics |
| Bernard Arnault |
Business |
5-Mar-1949 |
|
World's 17th richest man, 2005 |
| Claude Bébéar |
Business |
29-Jul-1935 |
|
CEO of AXA, 1985-2000 |
| Henri Becquerel |
Physicist |
15-Dec-1852 |
25-Aug-1908 |
Discoverer of radioactivity |
| Sadi Carnot |
Physicist |
1-Jun-1796 |
24-Aug-1832 |
2nd Law of Thermodynamics |
| Augustin-Louis Cauchy |
Mathematician |
21-Aug-1789 |
23-May-1857 |
Infinitesimals, theory of substitution groups |
| André Citroën |
Engineer |
5-Feb-1878 |
3-Jul-1935 |
Europe's Henry Ford |
| Bertrand P. Collomb |
Business |
c. 1943 |
|
CEO of Lafarge SA, 1987-2003 |
| Auguste Comte |
Sociologist |
19-Jan-1798 |
5-Sep-1857 |
Positivist founder of Sociology |
| Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis |
Mathematician |
21-May-1792 |
19-Sep-1843 |
Coriolis force |
| Alfred Cornu |
Physicist |
6-Mar-1841 |
11-Apr-1902 |
Optics and spectroscopy |
| Henri Alexandre Deslandres |
Astronomer |
24-Jul-1853 |
15-Jan-1948 |
Spectroheliograph |
| Alfred Dreyfus |
Victim |
9-Oct-1859 |
12-Jul-1935 |
Dreyfus Affair scapegoat |
| Ferdinand Foch |
Military |
2-Oct-1851 |
20-Mar-1929 |
Allied Supreme Commander WWI |
| Noël Forgeard |
Business |
8-Dec-1946 |
|
CEO of Airbus, 2004-06 |
| Augustin-Jean Fresnel |
Physicist |
10-May-1788 |
14-Jul-1827 |
Optician, invented Fresnel lens |
| Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac |
Chemist |
6-Dec-1778 |
9-May-1850 |
Researched gases, etc. |
| Carlos Ghosn |
Business |
9-Mar-1954 |
|
CEO of Nissan and Renault |
| Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
Head of State |
2-Feb-1926 |
|
President of France, 1974-81 |
| Bernard L. M. Kasriel |
Business |
1946 |
|
CEO of Lafarge, 2003-06 |
| Luis Leloir |
Chemist |
6-Sep-1906 |
2-Dec-1987 |
Conversion of carbohydrates |
| Benoit Mandelbrot |
Mathematician |
20-Nov-1924 |
14-Oct-2010 |
Fractal mathematician |
| Jean-Marie Messier |
Business |
13-Dec-1956 |
|
CEO of Vivendi, 1996-2000 |
| André Michelin |
Business |
16-Jan-1853 |
4-Apr-1931 |
Founder of Michelin Group |
| Henri Poincaré |
Mathematician |
29-Apr-1854 |
17-Jul-1912 |
Poincaré Conjecture |
| Siméon-Denis Poisson |
Mathematician |
21-Jun-1781 |
25-Apr-1840 |
Poisson distribution |
| Henri-Victor Regnault |
Chemist |
21-Jul-1810 |
19-Jan-1878 |
Properties of gases |
| Charles-Bernard Renouvier |
Philosopher |
1-Jan-1815 |
1-Sep-1903 |
Neocritical idealist |
| Pierre Schaeffer |
Electronic Musician |
14-Aug-1910 |
19-Aug-1995 |
Inventor of musique concrète |
| Robert B. Silvers |
Editor |
31-Dec-1929 |
|
The New York Review of Books |
| Georges Sorel |
Philosopher |
2-Nov-1847 |
29-Aug-1922 |
Reflections on Violence |