Find out more about the greatest 20th Century French Scientists, including Alexander Grothendieck, Cédric Villani, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, Serge Haroche and Jean-Pierre Serre.
Marie Curie07 November 1867
First woman to win a Nobel Prize
René Girard25 December 1923
Philosopher
Alexander Grothendieck28 March 1928
Mathematician
Frédéric Joliot-Curie19 March 1900
Physicist
Jacques Monod09 February 1910
Biologist
François Jacob17 June 1920
Biologist
Georges Charpak01 August 1924
Physicist
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji01 April 1933
Physicist
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes24 October 1932
Physicist
Louis Néel22 November 1904
Physicist
Roger Guillemin11 January 1924
Physiologist
Jean-Marie Lehn30 September 1939
Chemist
Alfred Kastler03 May 1902
Physicist
Jean Dausset19 October 1916
Immunologist
André Lwoff08 May 1902
Microbiologist
Andre Weil06 May 1906
Mathematician
Luc Montagnier18 August 1932
Physician, Biologist, Virologist, Researcher,
Benoit Mandelbrot20 November 1924
Mathematician, Economist, Professor, Scientist,
Jacques Hadamard08 December 1865
Mathematician
Cédric Villani05 October 1973
Mathematician, Physicist, University teacher
Pierre Joliot12 March 1932
Biologist, Biochemist, Professor
Maurice René Fréchet02 September 1878
Mathematician
Matthieu Ricard15 February 1946
Molecular biologist, Photographer, Bhikkhu,
Jean-Pierre Serre15 September 1926
Mathematician, Topologist, Professor
Fred Vargas07 June 1957
Writer, Archaeologist, Novelist, Historian
Audrey Mestre11 August 1974
Free-diver, Marine biologist
Raymond Queneau21 February 1903
Poet, Playwright, Novelist, Writer, Screenwriter,
Henri Lebesgue28 June 1875
Mathematician
Jacques Benveniste12 March 1935
Physician, Immunologist
Serge Lang19 May 1927
Mathematician
Serge Haroche11 September 1944
Physicist, University teacher
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Jean-Henri Fabre21 December 1823
Entomologist
Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov23 December 1943
Mathematician, University teacher
Pierre Duhem09 June 1861
Historian
Albert Calmette12 July 1863
Physician
Alain Aspect15 June 1947
Physicist
Maxim Kontsevich25 August 1964
Mathematician, Topologist
Laurent Schwartz05 March 1915
Mathematician, University teacher, Entomologist
Philippe Kahn16 March 1952
Entrepreneur, Computer scientist
Alain Connes01 April 1947
Mathematician, Professor
Jacques Tits12 August 1930
Mathematician, University teacher, Professor
Camille Guérin22 December 1872
Veterinarian
René Thom02 September 1923
Mathematician, University teacher
David Servan-Schreiber21 April 1961
Neuroscientist and psychiatrist
Didier Sornette25 June 1957
Physicist, Economist
Pierre Bézier01 September 1910
Engineer, Mathematician, Computer scientist
Peter Grünberg18 May 1939
Physicist, University teacher
Henri Cartan08 July 1904
Mathematician
Pierre-Louis Lions11 August 1956
Mathematician
Albert Fert07 March 1938
Physicist, University teacher
Paul Painlevé05 December 1863
Mathematician
Jérôme Lejeune13 June 1926
Pediatrician
Sergei Winogradsky01 September 1856
Microbiologist
Wendelin Werner23 September 1968
Mathematician
Jean Dieudonné01 July 1906
Mathematician
Henri Breuil28 February 1877
Archaeologist
René Dubos20 February 1901
Microbiologist
Jean-Pierre Sauvage21 October 1944
Chemist
Laurent Lafforgue06 November 1966
Mathematician
Joseph Sifakis26 December 1946
Computer scientist
Jean-Christophe Yoccoz29 May 1957
Mathematician
Joseph Bertrand11 March 1822
Mathematician
Jacques-Louis Lions03 May 1928
Mathematician
François-Marie Raoult10 May 1830
Chemist
Édouard Goursat21 May 1858
Mathematician
Charles Fabry11 June 1867
Physicist
Léon Teisserenc de Bort05 November 1855
Meteorologist
Louis Couturat17 January 1868
Logician
Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran18 April 1838
Chemist
René-Louis Baire21 January 1874
Mathematician
Pierre Weiss25 March 1865
Physicist
Émile Meyerson12 February 1859
Epistemologist
Marcellin Boule01 January 1861
Palaeontologist
Maurice de Broglie27 April 1875
Physicist
Gérard de Vaucouleurs25 April 1918
Astronomer
Maurice Taieb22 July 1935
Geologist
Yves Rocard22 May 1903
Physicist
Louis-Antoine Ranvier02 October 1835
Physician
Joseph Achille Le Bel21 January 1847
Chemist
Yves Delage13 May 1854
Zoologist
Henri-Alexandre Deslandres24 July 1853
Astronomer
Hubert Curien30 October 1924
Physicist
André Blondel28 August 1863
Engineer
Audouin Dollfus12 November 1924
Astronomer
Georges Friedel19 July 1865
Crystallographer
Paul Marie Eugène Vieille02 September 1854
Chemist
Bernard Lyot27 February 1897
Astronomer
Jules Violle16 November 1841
Physicist
Paul Lévy15 September 1886
Mathematician
Louis Paul Cailletet21 September 1832
Physicist
Auguste Michel-Lévy07 August 1844
Geologist
André-Louis Danjon06 April 1890
Astronomer
Charles-Victor Mauguin19 September 1878
Educator
Alfred Lacroix04 February 1863
Mineralogist