Most Famous French Scientists

France has produced 1,000 notable scientists throughout history, led by Louis Pasteur. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Category All
Citizenship All
LP
Louis Pasteur French Biologist 1822 – 1895
# 120
BP
Blaise Pascal French Mathematician 1623 – 1662
# 255
ÉD
Émile Durkheim French Anthropologist 1858 – 1917
# 468
N
Nostradamus French Physician 1503 – 1566
# 653
JL
Jacques Lacan French Psychiatrist 1901 – 1981
# 999
JL
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck French Botanist 1744 – 1829
# 1,138
PL
Pierre-Simon Laplace French Mathematician 1749 – 1827
# 1,233
HP
Henri Poincaré French Mathematician 1854 – 1912
# 1,238
IJ
Irène Joliot-Curie French Physicist 1897 – 1956
# 1,893
ÉG
Évariste Galois French Mathematician 1811 – 1832
# 2,022
FF
Frantz Fanon French Psychiatrist 1925 – 1961
# 2,379
GC
Georges Cuvier French Geologist 1769 – 1832
# 2,448
GL
Georges-Louis Leclerc (Comte de Buffon) French Botanist 1707 – 1788
# 2,768
TP
Thomas Piketty French Economist Born 1971
# 3,018
JF
Joseph Fourier French Mathematician 1768 – 1830
# 3,117
NF
Nicolas Flamel French Chemist 1330 – 1418
# 4,120
RL
René Laennec French Physician 1781 – 1826
# 4,129
CD
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb French Physicist 1736 – 1806
# 4,409
GL
Gustave Le Bon French Physician 1841 – 1931
# 4,446
CV
Cédric Villani French Mathematician Born 1973
# 4,779