List of French scientists

This is a list of notable French scientists.

A

José Achache (20th-21st centuries), geophysicist and ecologist Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717–1783), mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher Claude Allègre (1937–2025), geochemist Lucile Allorge (born 1937), botanist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), physicist and mathematician Camille Arambourg (1885–1969), vertebrate palaeontologist. Françoise Ardré (1931–2010), phycologist, marine scientist Alain Aspect (born 1947), physicist

B Louis Bachelier (1870–1946), mathematician Antoine Jérôme Balard (1802–1876), chemist Éliane Basse (1899–1985), paleontologist and geologist Pierre-Dominique Bazaine (1786–1838), mathematician and engineer Jean de Beaurain (1696–1771), geographer Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878), electrochemist Edmond Becquerel (1820–1891), physicist Henri Becquerel (1852–1908), physicist and Nobel laureate Jean Becquerel (1878–1953), physicist Léon Bence (1929–1987), physician Jacques Benoit (1896–1982), physician, biologist and neuroendocrinologist Claude Bernard (1813–1878), physiologist Marcellin Berthelot (1827–1907), chemist, opponent of vitalism Claude Louis Berthollet (1748–1822), chemist Julien Bessières (1777–1840), physician, diplomat, and member of the Egyptian Institute of Sciences and Arts Alfred Binet (1857–1911), psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test Prosper-René Blondlot (1849–1930), physicist Pierre Boiteau (1911–1980), botanist Jean Bosler (1878–1973), astronomer Marcellin Boule (1861–1942), palaeontologist, geologist, and anthropologist Claude Bourgelat (1712–1779), veterinary surgeon Thomas Bourgeron (born 1965), neuroscientist Jean-Baptiste Boussingault (1801–1887), chemist Gerard Brachet (born 1944), space scientist Paul Broca (1824–1880), physician, surgeon, anatomist, and anthropologist Louis de Broglie (1892–1987), physicist Bernard Brunhes (1867–1910), physicist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788), naturalist and mathematician

C Bernard Cabane (born 1945), physicist and chemist Pierre Jean George Cabanis (1757–1808), physiologist Albert Calmette (1863–1933), physician, bacteriologist and immunologist Georges Canguilhem (1904–1995), physician and philosopher Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (1796–1832), physicist and military engineer Élie Cartan (1869–1951), mathematician Henri Cartan (1904–2008), mathematician Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857), mathematician and physicist Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), philologist Jean-Pierre Changeux (born 1936), neurochemist

Georges Charpak (1924–2010), physicist, Nobel prize winner 1992 Georges Charpy (1865–1945), physicist and metallurgist Henry Louis Le Chatelier (1850–1936), chemist known for Le Chatelier's principle Albert Châtelet (1883–1960), mathematician Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749), mathematician and physicist Jean Mathieu de Chazelles (1657–1710), professor of hydrography Michel Che (1941–2019), chemist Daniel Choquet (born 1962), neuroscientist Gustave Choquet (1915–2006), mathematician Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (1923–2025), mathematician Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu (1738–1810), explorer, hydrographer and politician Alain Connes (born 1947), mathematician; Fields Medalist 1982 Louis Couffignal (1902–1966), mathematician and cybernetician Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736–1806), physicist, discoverer of Coulomb's law

Vincent Courtillot (born 1948), geophysicist Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997), oceanographer Philippe Cousteau (1940–1979), oceanographer Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle (1748–1835), engineer, scientist and pioneer of ballooning Adam de Craponne (1526–1576), engineer who implemented the Canal de Craponne in 1559 Jean Cruveilhier (1791–1874), anatomist and pathologist Marie Curie (1867–1934), physicist and chemist, two Nobel Prizes, in physics (1903) and chemistry (1911) Pierre Curie (1859–1906), physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize in physics (1903) Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), regarded as the founding father of palaeontology Boris Cyrulnik (born 1937), ethologist, neurologist, and psychiatrist

D Thomas-François Dalibard (1709–1778), physicist and botanist Henry Darcy (1803–1858), hydraulic engineer Michel Darluc (1717–1783), naturalist Raymond Daudel (1920–2006), quantum chemist Jean Dausset (1916–2009), biologist, Nobel prize winner 1980 Suzanne Débarbat (1928–2024), astronomer and historian of science and technology André-Louis Debierne (1874–1949), chemist Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre (1749–1822), mathematician and astronomer Marcel Deprez (1843–1918), electrical engineer John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683–1744), natural philosopher (physicist) Guillaume Delisle (1675–1726), cartographer Girard Desargues (1591–1661), mathematician René Descartes (1596–1650), scientist and philosopher Robert Debré (1882–1978), physician Roland Douce (1939–2018), plant biologist

Jean-Baptiste du Hamel (1624–1706), natural philosopher (physicist) Émilien Dumas (1804–1873), palaeontologist, and geologist Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1800–1884), chemist Charles François Dupuis (1742–1809), polymath and theologian

F Pierre Fauchard (1679–1761), physician, "the father of modern dentistry" Hervé Faye (1814–1902), astronomer Pierre de Fermat (1607–1665), mathematician Louis Feuillée (1660–1732), explorer, astronomer, geographer, and botanist Jacqueline Ficini (1923-1988), known for developing the synthetic chemistry of ynamine Bernard Foing (20–21st century), astronomer Léon Foucault (1819–1868), physicist Pierre Fourmanoir (1924–2007), ichthyologist Joseph Fourier (1768–1830), mathematician and physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827), physicist known for work on optics

G

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1932–2007), mathematician and physicist, Nobel Prize in physics 1991 Sophie Germain (1776–1831) mathematician, physicist and philosopher. Paul Gervais (1816–1879), palaeontologist and entomologist Jacques Géry (1917–2007), ichthyologist Mirko Grmek (1924–2000), historian of medicine Alexander Grothendieck (1928–2014), mathematician; Fields Medalist 1966 (German-born) Camille Guérin (1872–1961), biologist André Guinier (1911–2000), physicist

H Jacques Hadamard (1865–1963), mathematician Armand Havet (1795–1820), botanist Victor Henri (1872–1940), physical chemist and physiologist Charles Hermite (1822–1901), mathematician Catherine Hill (born 1946), epidemiologist and biostatistician Étienne Hubert d'Orléans (1567–1614), Arabist

J François Jacob (1920–2013), biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965 Charles Janet (1849–1932), chemist and biologist Paul Janet (1823–1899), philosopher Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956), physicist, Nobel Prize winner 1935 Frédéric Joliot-Curie (1900–1958), physicist, Nobel Prize winner 1935 Jean Jouzel (born 1947), glaciologist and climatologist Gaston Julia (1893–1978), mathematician

K Nicole El Karoui (born 1944), mathematician Robert Kühner (1903–1996), mycologist Jean Kuntzmann (1912–1992), mathematician

L Michel de La Vigne (1588–1648), physician Yves Lacoste (born 1929), geographer and geopolitician Laurent Lafforgue (born 1966), mathematician; Fields Medalist 2002 Frédéric de Lafresnaye (1783–1861), ornithologist Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736–1813), mathematician Jean Laherrère (born 1931), consultant and petroleum engineer Claude François Lallemand (1790–1854), physician and pathologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829), evolutionary biologist Paul Langevin (1872–1946), physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827), mathematician and physicist François-de-Paule Latapie (1739–1823), botanist Lucien Laubier (1936–2008), oceanographer René Lavocat (1909–2007), paleontologist Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794), chemist Michel Lazdunski (born 1938), biochemist Eliane Le Breton (1897–1977), physiologist Xavier Le Pichon (1937–2025), geophysicist Alfred Legoyt (1812–1885), statistician Jean-Marie Lehn (born 1939), chemist, Nobel prize 1987 Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond (born 1940), physicist Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009), anthropologist Arnoult de Lisle (1556–1613), Arabist and physician Pierre-Louis Lions (born 1956), mathematician; Fields Medalist 1994 Edmond Locard (1877–1966), pioneer of forensic science André Lwoff (1902–1994), biologist, Nobel prize 1965

M Marguerite Macaigne (1908–2000), physicist in Marie Curie's laboratory Jean-Michel Macron (born 1950), neurologist Charles Madic (1942–2008), radiochemist Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan (1678–1771), geophysicist, astronomer and chronobiologist Benoit Mandelbrot (1924–2010), mathematician Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1698–1759), mathematician and philosopher Prosper Ménière (1799–1862), doctor concerned with hearing loss and tinnitus Marin Mersenne (1588–1648), mathematician Charles Messier (1730–1817), astronomer André Michaux (1746–1802), botanist and explorer François André Michaux (1770–1855), botanist Jean-Louis Michel (born 1945), oceanographer and engineer Alphonse Milne-Edwards (1835–1900), mammalologist and ornithologist Henri Milne-Edwards (1800–1885), zoologist Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754), mathematician Jacques Monod (1910–1976), biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965 Théodore Monod (1902–2000), naturalist and theologian Gabriel Mouton (1618–1694), mathematician and astronomer

N–O

Adolphe-Simon Neboux (1806–1844), surgeon and naturalist Louis Néel (1904–2000), physicist, Nobel Prize 1970 André Niederlender (1890–1959), archaeologist Jean de Noailles (1739–1824), chemist Jean-Baptiste Noulet (1802–1890), archaeologist Hélène Olivier-Bourbigou (born 1962), chemist

P–Q Henri Padé (1863–1953), mathematician Paul Painlevé (1863–1933), mathematician and statesman Denis Papin (1647–1713), physicist, mathematician, and inventor Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), mathematician and philosopher Étienne Pascal (1588–1651), mathematician Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), microbiologist and chemist Jean Pecquet (1622–1674), psychologist Jean-Marie Pelt (1933–2015), botanist Jocelyne Pérard (born 1940), geographer Jean Robert Petit (21st century), paleoclimatologist Alphonse Pinart (1852–1911), philologist Gilles Pisier (born 1950), mathematician Hippolyte Pixii (1808–1835), inventor Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), mathematician and physicist Lucien Poincaré (1862–1920), physicist Siméon Poisson (1781–1840), mathematician and physicist Pierre Poivre (1719–1786), horticulturist and botanist Angèle Pompéi (1898–1990), physicist and chemist, friend of Irène Curie Albéric Pont (1870–1960), dentist and pioneer in maxillofacial surgery Alberte Pullman (1920–2011), quantum chemist Bernard Pullman (1919–1996), quantum chemist Lucien Quélet (1832–1899), naturalist and mycologist

R Petrus Ramus (1515–1572), mathematician and logician Louis-Antoine Ranvier (1835–1922), physician, pathologist, anatomist and histologist Didier Raoult (born 1952), microbiologist and virologist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757), entomologist Jacques Ricard (1929–2018), biochemist Jean-Baptiste Robinet (1735–1820), naturalist Antoine Georges Roederer (born 1943), engineer and scientist Paul Rohmer (1876–1977), physician Michel Rolle (1652–1719), mathematician Henri Romagnesi (1912–1999), mycologist

Jean Rostand (1894–1977), biologist and philosopher Louis Rougier (1889–1982), mathematician, physicist, and philosopher

S Nicolas Sarrabat (1698–1739), mathematician concerned with many aspects of science Henri Émile Sauvage (1842–1917), ichthyologist, paleontologist, and herpetologist

Conrad Schlumberger (1878–1936), geophysicist Marcel Schlumberger (1884–1953), geophysicist Laurent Schwartz (1915–2002), mathematician; Fields Medalist 1950 Géraud Sénizergues (born 1957), computer scientist and 2002 Gödel Prize recipient. Jean-Pierre Serre (born 1926), mathematician; Fields Medalist 1954 Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard (born 1939), biologist, CNRS director

T