Rudolf Diesel was a German mechanical engineer and inventor best remembered for inventing the Diesel engine. After Diesel's demise, his engine became an important substitution for the steam piston engine. The engine became widespread in applications, such as agricultural machines, submarines, ships, and trucks. His life inspired the 1942 biographical film Diesel, in which he was played by Willy Birgel.
![Louis Le Prince Louis Le Prince](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/louis-le-prince-10030-1.jpg)
Louis Le Prince was a French inventor and artist. He is credited with inventing an early motion-picture camera and is often referred to as the Father of Cinematography. However, Louis Le Prince's work failed to influence the commercial development of motion picture because of the secrecy surrounding his invention.
![Joseph Marie Jacquard Joseph Marie Jacquard](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/joseph-marie-jacquard-16659-1.jpg)
![Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/nicolas-joseph-cugnot-17561-1.jpg)
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a French inventor best remembered for building the Fardier à vapeur, the world's first automobile. Fardier à vapeur was the first working self-propelled mechanical land-vehicle. Built in 1769, the vehicle accidentally knocked down a stone or brick wall in 1771, an incident which is widely regarded as the first known automobile accident in the world.
![Louis Blériot Louis Blériot](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/louis-blriot-16753-1.jpg)
Louis Blériot was a French aviator, engineer, and inventor. He is credited with developing the first workable headlamp for cars. He is also credited with making the first working, piloted monoplane. Blériot achieved worldwide fame in 1909 when he became the first person to fly across the English Channel. Louis Blériot also founded the successful aircraft manufacturing company, Blériot Aéronautique.
Augustin-Jean Fresne, best remembered for his pioneering research on the wave theory of light, was a sickly child and was mostly homeschooled in his early days. The French physicist was a civil engineer, too. Unfortunately, most of his scientific work failed to receive public attention during his lifetime.
![Jacques Charles Jacques Charles](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/jacques-charles-1.jpg)
Best known for developing the Charles’s law, which explains the expansion of gases when heated, Jacques Charles was a prominent French physicist. He was the first to ascend in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon, thus pioneering hot-air balloon flight. The Académie des Sciences member later became a professor of physics.
![Franz Reichelt Franz Reichelt](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/franz-reichelt-120225-1.jpg)
![Étienne Lenoir Étienne Lenoir](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/tienne-lenoir-25486-1.jpg)
Étienne Lenoir was a Belgian-French engineer. He is credited with developing the internal combustion engine which was commercialized in sufficient quantities. Lenoir is also credited with inventing such electrical devices as an improved electric telegraph which played a key role during the Franco-Prussian War.
![Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/douard-lon-scott-de-martinville-27476-1.jpg)
![Nicolas Appert Nicolas Appert](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/nicolas-appert-25346-1.jpg)
![Jacques de Vaucanson Jacques de Vaucanson](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/jacques-de-vaucanson-23342-1.jpg)
Jacques de Vaucanson was a French artist and inventor. He is credited with creating impressive and innovative automata. De Vaucanson was also the first inventor to design an automatic loom. His ideas for the automation of the weaving process were later perfected by Joseph Marie Jacquard, who created the Jacquard machine.
![Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Pierre Choderlos de Laclos](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/pierre-choderlos-de-laclos-25480-1.jpg)
![Claude Chappe Claude Chappe](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/claude-chappe-16759-1.jpg)
![Georges Leclanché Georges Leclanché](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/georges-leclanch-61941-1.jpg)
Georges Leclanché was a 19th-century French electrical engineer who invented what became known as the Leclanché cell. His invention is considered the forerunner of the modern dry cell battery. He was educated at École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures and had a successful engineering career. He later founded the cells factory "Leclanché-Barbier" with Ernest Barbier.
Auguste Lumière was a French engineer, illusionist, industrialist, and biologist. Alongside his brother Louis Jean Lumière, Auguste is credited with inventing a projection device and animated photographic camera called the cinematograph, which attracted worldwide acclaim. He is also remembered for his innovations in military aircraft and his pioneering work in the use of X-rays.
![Jean-Pierre Blanchard Jean-Pierre Blanchard](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/jean-pierre-blanchard-1.jpg)
![Guillaume Amontons Guillaume Amontons](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/guillaume-amontons-57074-1.jpg)
![Georges Claude Georges Claude](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/georges-claude-28188-1.jpg)
French engineer and inventor Georges Claude was often referred as the Edison of France. He is most noted for inventing and commercializing neon lighting and having a near monopoly on the new technology, for conducting an experiment to generate thermal energy of the ocean and building the first Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant, and for the Claude cycle.
![Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/jacques-tienne-montgolfier-102809-1.jpg)
![Pierre Vernier Pierre Vernier](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/no-profile-img.jpg)
![André-Jacques Garnerin André-Jacques Garnerin](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/andr-jacques-garnerin-27078-1.jpg)
![Nicolas-Jacques Conté Nicolas-Jacques Conté](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/nicolas-jacques-cont.jpg)
![Émile Baudot Émile Baudot](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/mile-baudot-1.jpg)
![Louis-Sébastien Lenormand Louis-Sébastien Lenormand](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/louis-sbastien-lenormand-61350-1.jpg)
![Joseph Monier Joseph Monier](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/joseph-monier-58815-1.jpg)
![Paul Cornu Paul Cornu](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/paul-cornu-1.jpg)
![Leo Valentin Leo Valentin](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/leo-valentin-1.jpg)
Birdman Leo Valentin was a French adventurer who became the first person to fly with wooden wings attached to his arms, back in the 1950s. He began his career as a parachute instructor with the French army. He died due to a failed flying stunt during an air show in Liverpool.
![Charles Cros Charles Cros](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/charles-cros-59195-1.jpg)
![Alphonse Pénaud Alphonse Pénaud](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/alphonse-pnaud-1.jpg)
![Gaston Planté Gaston Planté](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/gaston-plant-59670-1.jpg)
![Alexandre Alexeieff Alexandre Alexeieff](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/tfp-no-profile-image-found.jpg)
Alexandre Alexeieff was a Russian Empire-born French filmmaker, artist, and illustrator. Alexeieff and his wife Claire Parker are credited with inventing an animation technique called totalization as well as the pinscreen animation. His life and career have inspired a couple of documentary films, namely Alexeieff at the Pinboard, Portrait of Alexeieff, and Dreams about Alfeoni.
![Bernard Courtois Bernard Courtois](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/no-profile-img.jpg)
Bernard Courtois was a French chemist. He is credited with isolating iodine and morphine. Interested in chemistry from a young age, he learned how to make potassium nitrate for gunpowder for the French Revolution. He later found work at the École Polytechnique in Paris. Later in life, he went into manufacturing high-quality iodine and its salts.
![Léon Gaumont Léon Gaumont](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/lon-gaumont-120914-1.jpg)
Léon Gaumont was a French engineer, inventor, and industrialist. A pioneer of the moving picture industry, Gaumont is credited with founding Gaumont Film Company, the first and oldest film studio in the world. Léon Gaumont is also remembered for his association with Solax Studios.
![Claude-Étienne Minié Claude-Étienne Minié](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/claude-tienne-mini-1.jpg)
![André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/andr-adolphe-eugne-disdri-61706-1.jpg)
![Henri Herz Henri Herz](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/henri-herz-59883-1.jpg)
![Charles Xavier Thomas Charles Xavier Thomas](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/charles-xavier-thomas-1.jpg)
![Henri-Gustave Delvigne Henri-Gustave Delvigne](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/henri-gustave-delvigne-62305-1.jpg)
![André Cassagnes André Cassagnes](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/tfp-no-profile-image-found.jpg)
![Jeanne Villepreux-Power Jeanne Villepreux-Power](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/jeanne-villepreux-power-61656-1.jpg)
Jeanne Villepreux-Power was a French marine biologist. She is credited with creating aquaria in 1832 in order to experiment with aquatic organisms. Nicknamed the Mother of Aquariophily, Villepreux-Power also invented the systematic application of the aquarium in order to study marine life. Jeanne Villepreux-Power was also a well-known author, conservationist, and dressmaker.
![Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/nicolas-claude-fabri-de-peiresc-62908-1.jpg)
The son of an affluent surgeon from Provence, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc grew up to be a famous astronomer, known mostly for his research on longitudes. He is also remembered for discovering the Orion Nebula and owned a huge collection of coins, which he used to study history.
![Paul Heroult Paul Heroult](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/paul-heroult-63571-1.jpg)
Best known for inventing the electric-arc furnace, Paul Heroult had also devised the electrolytic process for developing low-cost aluminium. Because of a similar work by Charles Martin Hall, the process came to be known as the Hall–Heroult process. He had also been a technical advisor to many companies.
![Émile Levassor Émile Levassor](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/mile-levassor-63658-1.jpg)
![Charles-Émile Reynaud Charles-Émile Reynaud](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/charles-mile-reynaud-27591-1.jpg)
![Hilaire de Chardonnet Hilaire de Chardonnet](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/hilaire-de-chardonnet-69594-1.jpg)
![Marc Seguin Marc Seguin](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/thumbs/marc-seguin-74931-1.jpg)