Famous People Born In Montpellier

“It is by doing whatever that we become whoever” is the motto that French prankster Rémi Gaillard lives by and which appears in all his videos. The YouTuber has gained a huge following with his peculiar antics such as mimicking animals or creating strange scenes inside elevators.

Urban sociologist Loïc Wacquant is best known for his work on topics such as the body, ethnography, and racial inequality. A University of California, Berkeley professor, he has also been a MacArthur Prize Fellow and a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows. He also co-founded the journal Ethnography.

Jean-Luc Dehaene, the last Prime Minister of Belgium during King Baudouin's reign, was known for his capability of negotiating political deadlocks. This earned him the nicknames The Plumber and The Minesweeper. Dehaene created a governing coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats and in 1993, his government thrived in transforming Belgium into a federal state.    

While studying the salt waters of the Mediterranean, Antoine Jérôme Balard made a chance discovery of bromine, though Carl Jacob Löwig had discovered the element independently a year earlier. The French chemist also taught chemistry at the Sorbonne. Renowned chemist Louis Pasteur was one of his students.

Guillaume Rondelet was a renowned French naturalist and physician of the 16th century. Best known for his detailed descriptions of marine animals in his book Libri de Piscibus Marinis, he also taught anatomy at the University of Montpellier. He also conducted research on medicinal drugs and their preparation.

Jean Dauberval is remembered for his iconic ballet La fille mal gardée, one of the world’s first comic ballets. The Académie Royale de Musique ballet master has trained numerous ballet legends, such as Charles Didelot, who is also known as the father of the Russian ballet.