France

French physicist and astronomer who invented the Foucault pendulum, measured the speed of light, discovered eddy currents, and named the gyroscope

French statesman who served King Louis XIV and developed Colbertism, a variant of mercantilism that organized the country's politics and markets

King of France from 1498 to 1515, also known as Louis of Orléans, who briefly reigned as King of Naples

Prolific French novelist, memoirist, and journalist of the European Romantic era, known for her more than 70 novels and activism

French chemist, physicist, and Nobel laureate who, with her husband, discovered induced radioactivity and advanced nuclear physics

French physicist, engineer, and military officer known for Coulomb's law, describing electrostatic attraction and repulsion, and for pioneering work in friction and soil mechanics

French sociologist, philosopher, and cultural theorist known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and concepts like hyperreality

French actor, theatre director, painter, and sculptor, renowned as Jean Cocteau's muse and a major post-war film star, recognized for his contributions to French cinema

French inventor and photographer who developed heliography and created the world's oldest surviving photograph of a real-world scene

King of the Franks from 1031 to 1060, whose reign is often seen as emblematic of early Capetian challenges but also as a period of pragmatic leadership

French poet, essayist, and critic known for his masterful command of rhythm and rhyme, whose works explored real-life observations and an exoticism inherited from the Romantics

French experimental physicist who discovered spontaneous radioactivity and won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics