Notable Alumni of National Graduate School of Engineering, Paris [Sorted List]

1. Albert Auguste Perdonnet

1801-1867 (aged 66)

university teacher railway engineer executive engineer civil engineer

Jean Albert Vincent Auguste Perdonnet was a French railroad engineer. He published the first French textbook on railroad engineering in 1828. He also worked to investigate and remove the causes of railroad accidents.

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2. Philippe Jamet

1961-. (aged 65)

engineer

Philippe Jamet is a French engineer and academic. He is a member of the Academy of Technologies. He served as Director General of the Institut Mines-Télécom from July 15, 2014 to the 1st of September 2019 and is an honorary president of the Conférence des Grandes écoles.

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3. Ours-Pierre-Armand Petit-Dufrénoy

1792-1857 (aged 65)

geologist mineralogist professor

Ours-Pierre-Armand Petit-Dufrénoy was a French geologist and mineralogist.

4. Charles Combes

1801-1872 (aged 71)

mining engineer university teacher

Charles Pierre Mathieu Combes was a French engineer. He was Inspector-General of Mines and the Director of the School of Mines in Paris. His name is on the Eiffel Tower.

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5. Auguste Michel-Lévy

1844-1911 (aged 67)

mineralogist professor geologist mining engineer

Auguste Michel-Lévy was a French geologist. He was born in Paris.

6. Yves Quéré

1931-. (aged 95)

physicist researcher

Yves Quéré is a French physicist and a member of the Academy of Sciences.

7. Marie-Adolphe Carnot

1839-1920 (aged 81)

chemist geologist mining engineer politician

Marie Adolphe Carnot was a French chemist, mining engineer and politician. He came from a distinguished family: his father, Hippolyte Carnot, and brother, Marie François Sadi Carnot, were politicians, the latter becoming President of the third French Republic. His uncle, military engineer Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, is considered the father of modern thermodynamics.

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8. Marcel Bertrand

1847-1907 (aged 60)

geologist mining engineer professor

Marcel Alexandre Bertrand was a French geologist born in Paris. He was the son of mathematician Joseph Louis François Bertrand (1822–1900), and son-in-law to physicist Éleuthère Mascart (1837-1908).

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9. Pierre-Marie Termier

1859-1930 (aged 71)

poet university teacher geologist mining engineer

Pierre-Marie Termier was a French geologist.

10. Gabriel Auguste Daubrée

1814-1896 (aged 82)

geologist writer university teacher speleologist mineralogist

Gabriel Auguste Daubrée MIF FRS FRSE was a French geologist, best known for applying experimental methods to structural geology. He served as the director of the École des Mines as well as the president of the French Academy of Sciences.

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11. Jacques-Joseph Ebelmen

1814-1852 (aged 38)

chemist

Jacques-Joseph Ébelmen was a French chemist. He was the son of Claude Louis Ébelmen, a forest surveyor, and Jeanne Claude Grenier. He attended classes in grammar and literature at the Language School at Baume. Thereafter he grew interested in the Sciences and attended the elementary mathematics classes in Paris at Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, and applied mathematics at the Lycée de...

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12. Bernard Gregory

1919-1977 (aged 58)

physicist university teacher

Bernard Paul Gregory was a prominent French physicist and director-general of CERN.

13. Georges Friedel

1865-1933 (aged 68)

mineralogist crystallographer

Georges Friedel was a French mineralogist and crystallographer.

14. Laurence Danon

1956-. (aged 70)

businessperson engineer

Laurence Danon Arnaud is a French businesswoman. She is chairman of her family office Primerose SAS.

15. Louis Cordier

1777-1861 (aged 84)

mineralogist geologist mining engineer politician

Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier was a French geologist and mineralogist, and a founder of the French Geological Society. He was professor of geology at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris from 1819 to 1861, and was responsible for the development of the geological gallery in the museum.

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16. Jacques Lesourne

1928-2020 (aged 92)

economist

Jacques Lesourne was a French economist who was the director of the daily newspaper Le Monde from 1991 to 1994.

17. Albert de Lapparent

1839-1908 (aged 69)

mineralogist university teacher geologist mining engineer

Albert Auguste Cochon de Lapparent was a French geologist.

18. Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville

1814-1876 (aged 62)

professor meteorologist geologist volcanologist

Charles Joseph Sainte-Claire Deville was a geologist and meteorologist.

19. Henri Babinski

1855-1931 (aged 76)

writer mining engineer

Henri Babinski, who wrote under the pen-name Ali-Bab, was a French gastronome and food writer. After a successful career as a mining engineer he retired to his native Paris, where he wrote Gastronomie pratique ("Practical Gastronomy").

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20. Jean-Michel Bismut

1948-. (aged 78)

mathematician

Jean-Michel Bismut is a French mathematician who has been a professor at the Université Paris-Sud since 1981. His mathematical career covers two apparently different branches of mathematics: probability theory and differential geometry. Ideas from probability play an important role in his works on geometry.

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21. Jean-Michel Cazes

1935-2023 (aged 88)

winegrower winemaker

Jean-Michel Cazes was a French winemaker and insurance executive. He managed the wine holdings of AXA Millésimes until 2000, the family insurance agency, and the Cazes family estates until 2006. He was the son of André Cazes and grandson of Jean-Charles Cazes who acquired the family's initial holdings.

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22. François de Wendel

1874-1949 (aged 75)

politician ironmaster

François de Wendel was a French industrialist and politician. He inherited the leadership of a major steel manufacturer in Lorraine at a time when it was part of Germany, and in Meurthe-et-Moselle in France to the west. He entered national politics just before World War I (1914–18), holding office first as a deputy and then as a senator until after...

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23. Louis Le Chatelier

1815-1873 (aged 58)

engineer chemist

Louis Le Chatelier was a French chemist and industrialist who developed a method for producing aluminium from bauxite in 1855. His son was chemist Henry Louis Le Chatelier. His name is inscribed on the Eiffel tower.

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24. Auguste Rateau

1863-1930 (aged 67)

engineer inventor teacher politician

Auguste Rateau was an engineer and industrialist born in Royan, France, specializing in turbomachinery.

25. Marie Alfred Cornu

1841-1902 (aged 61)

physicist pedagogue

Marie Alfred Cornu was a French physicist and professor of École polytechnique. The Cornu spiral, a graphical device for the computation of light intensities in Augustin-Jean Fresnel's model of near-field diffraction, is named after him. The spiral (or clothoid) is also used in geometric design of roads. The Cornu depolarizer is also named after him.

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26. Pierre Pringuet

1950-. (aged 76)

official businessperson business executive

Pierre Pringuet is a French businessman. He was the chief executive officer of Pernod-Ricard from 2008 to 2015. He serves as its vice president, as well as the president of the French Association of Private Enterprises.

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27. Jean Reynaud

1806-1863 (aged 57)

engineer geologist philosopher politician

Jean Ernest Reynaud was a French mining engineer and socialist philosopher.

28. Gérard Worms

1936-2020 (aged 84)

businessperson banker

Gérard Worms was a French banker and businessman. He served as the Vice Chairman of Rothschild Europe and Senior Advisor of Rothschild & Cie Banque.

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29. Bertrand Collomb

1942-2019 (aged 77)

businessperson

Bertrand P. Collomb was a French business executive.

30. Marcel Deprez

1843-1918 (aged 75)

engineer physicist electrician electrical engineer

Marcel Deprez was a French electrical engineer. He was born in Aillant-sur-Milleron. He died in Vincennes.

31. Jean Baptiste Armand Louis Léonée Elie de Beaumont

1798-1874 (aged 76)

politician geologist mining engineer entomologist professor

Jean-Baptiste Armand Louis Léonce Élie de Beaumont was a French geologist. Among his ideas was that mountains were created in a series of episodes over geological time due to the cooling and shrinking of the earth. He also suggested that there was a pattern in the orientation of the mountain systems of the world which followed a system of five...

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32. François Loos

1953-. (aged 73)

engineer politician

François Loos was appointed Minister Delegate for Industry on 2 June 2005, following a term as Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade (June 2002 to May 2005). He was Minister Delegate for Higher Education & Research in the first Raffarin government.

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33. Jacques Friedel

1921-2014 (aged 93)

researcher engineer physicist professor

Jacques Friedel ForMemRS was a French physicist and material scientist.

34. Georges Matheron

1930-2000 (aged 70)

mathematician geologist

Georges François Paul Marie Matheron was a French mathematician and civil engineer of mines, known as the founder of geostatistics and a co-founder (together with Jean Serra) of mathematical morphology. In 1968, he created the Centre de Géostatistique et de Morphologie Mathématique at the Paris School of Mines in Fontainebleau. He is known for his contributions on Kriging and mathematical...

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35. Louis Etienne François Héricart de Thury

1776-1854 (aged 78)

scientist politician geologist mining engineer entomologist

Louis-Étienne François Héricart-Ferrand, vicomte de Thury was a French politician and man of science. He was a mining engineer who produced more than 350 scholarly articles; was a member of numerous societies and professional associations. He was heir to an estate of great horticultural richness with the equivalent of a private arboretum. He was a founding member of the National...

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36. Jacques Biot

1952-. (aged 74)

engineer official entrepreneur lobbyist

Jacques Biot is a French engineer, businessman, lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies and academic administrator. He served as the president of the École Polytechnique between 2013 and 2018.

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37. Jean-Michel Coron

1956-. (aged 70)

mathematician university teacher

Jean-Michel Coron is a French mathematician. He first studied at École Polytechnique, where he worked on his PhD thesis advised by Haïm Brezis. Since 1992, he has studied the control theory of partial differential equations, and which includes both control and stabilization. His results concern partial differential equations related to fluid dynamics, with emphasis on nonlinear phenomena, and part of...

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38. Pierre Berthier

1782-1861 (aged 79)

engineer geologist

Pierre Berthier was a French geologist and mining engineer.

39. Gérard Berry

1948-. (aged 78)

computer scientist researcher engineer

Gérard Philippe Berry is a French computer scientist, member of the French Academy of Sciences (Académie des sciences), French Academy of Technologies (Académie des technologies), and Academia Europaea. He was the Chief Scientist Officer of Esterel Technologies from 2000 to 2009. He held the 2007-2008 yearly Liliane Bettencourt chair of Technological Innovation at the Collège de France. He was Director...

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40. Georges Painvin

1886-1980 (aged 94)

mathematician engineer industrialist cryptographer

Georges Jean Painvin was a French geologist, professor, army captain, cryptanalyst, and industrialist, best known for breaking the German ADFGX and ADFGVX cipher systems during the First World War.

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41. Pierre Laffitte

1925-2021 (aged 96)

politician geophysicist

Pierre Laffitte was a French politician and scientist. He was the founder of Sophia Antipolis and represented Alpes-Maritimes in the Senate of France from 1985 to 2008 as a member of the Radical Party (PR).

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42. Étienne Hirsch

1901-1994 (aged 93)

civil engineer engineer politician

Étienne Hirsch was a French civil engineer and a member of the French Resistance during World War II. He served as President of the Commission of the European Atomic Energy Community between 1959 and 1962 (see Hirsch Commission).

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43. Louis Paul Cailletet

1832-1913 (aged 81)

chemist editing staff physicist industrialist ironmaster

Louis-Paul Cailletet was a French physicist and inventor.

44. Charles-Eugène Delaunay

1816-1872 (aged 56)

mathematician engineer astronomer

Charles-Eugène Delaunay was a French astronomer and mathematician. His lunar motion studies were important in advancing both the theory of planetary motion and mathematics.

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45. Louis Émile Javal

1839-1907 (aged 68)

writer ophthalmologist Esperantist politician

Louis Émile Javal was a French ophthalmologist born in Paris. Javal is remembered for his studies of physiological optics and his work involving a disorder known as strabismus.

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46. Alain Le Roy

1953-. (aged 73)

diplomat

Alain Le Roy is a French diplomat who served as Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) between 1 March 2015 and 31 August 2016. In this capacity, he was in charge of around 3,400 staff and around 140 delegations in non-EU countries. On 16 June 2016 he announced he would be resigning effective 1 September 2016, being...

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47. Philippe d'Iribarne

1937-. (aged 89)

anthropologist economist businessperson sociologist

Philippe d’Iribarne is a French author and director of research at CNRS. He works within a research centre called LISE (Laboratoire interdisciplinaire en sociologie économique or "interdisciplinary laboratorium on economic sociology").

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48. Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac

1817-1894 (aged 77)

university teacher chemist crystallographer

Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac was a Swiss chemist whose work with atomic weights suggested the possibility of isotopes and the packing fraction of nuclei. His study of the rare earth elements led to his discovery of ytterbium in 1878 and co-discovery of gadolinium in 1880.

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49. Auguste Laurent

1807-1853 (aged 46)

chemist

Auguste Laurent was a French chemist who helped in the founding of organic chemistry with his discoveries of trichloroethylene, anthracene, phthalic acid, and carbolic acid.

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50. Alfred Capus

1857-1922 (aged 65)

writer playwright novelist journalist

Alfred Capus was a French journalist and playwright, who was born in Aix-en-Provence and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

51. Pierre-Émile Martin

1824-1915 (aged 91)

engineer industrialist

Pierre-Émile Martin was a French industrial engineer. He applied the principle of recovery of the hot gas in an open hearth furnace, a process invented by Carl Wilhelm Siemens.

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52. Francis Mer

1939-2023 (aged 84)

engineer businessperson entrepreneur politician

Francis Mer was a French businessman, industrialist and politician. An alumnus of the École polytechnique (class of 1959), and of the École des Mines de Paris, he was a member of the Corps des mines. Mer was hired in 1970 by the Saint-Gobain group. In 1982, he became chairman of the board of Pont-à-Mousson SA. In the 1980s, he joined...

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53. Jean-Louis Beffa

1941-. (aged 85)

businessperson engineer

Jean-Louis Beffa is a French businessman. He was Chairman and CEO of Saint-Gobain from 1986 to 2007, Chairman until 2010 and is Honorary Chairman of the board of Saint-Gobain. He is a former member of the Saint-Simon Foundation and was on the boards of BNP Paribas, GDF Suez, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, Siemens AG, Le Monde S.A., Société Editrice du Monde...

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54. Luc Oursel

1959-2014 (aged 55)

businessperson civil engineer

Luc Marie Bernard Oursel,, was the former chairman of the board of the nuclear company Areva and member of its executive committee. He resigned on 20 October 2014 for health reasons. Until June 2013, he was the President of the French Nuclear Energy Corporation. In 2010, he was made a Knight Commander of the French Legion of Honour

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55. Jean-Pierre Clamadieu

1958-. (aged 68)

mining engineer engineer entrepreneur

Jean-Pierre Clamadieu is a French businessman.

56. Thierry de Montbrial

1943-. (aged 83)

geopolitical analyst economist

Thierry de Montbrial is the executive chairman of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), which he founded in 1979. He is also the founder and chairman of the World Policy Conference (WPC), which he created in 2008. He has been a member of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences since 1992. He is an honorary member of...

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57. Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu

1750-1801 (aged 51)

geologist volcanologist mineralogist

Dieudonné Sylvain Guy Tancrède de Gratet de Dolomieu usually known as Déodat de Dolomieu was a French geologist. The mineral and the rock dolomite and the largest summital crater on the Piton de la Fournaise volcano were named after him.

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58. Henri Victor Regnault

1810-1878 (aged 68)

chemist professor university teacher engineer photographer

Henri Victor Regnault ForMemRS was a French chemist and physicist best known for his careful measurements of the thermal properties of gases. He was an early thermodynamicist and was mentor to William Thomson in the late 1840s. He never used his first given name, and was known throughout his lifetime as Victor Regnault.

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59. Jacques de Morgan

1857-1924 (aged 67)

biologist archaeologist geologist engineer anthropologist

Jean-Jacques de Morgan was a French mining engineer, geologist, and archaeologist. He was the Director of Antiquities for the government of Egypt from 1892 to 1897, and excavated in Memphis and Dahshur, providing many drawings of many Egyptian pyramids. De Morgan also worked at Stonehenge, and Persepolis, and many other sites.

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60. Michel Chevalier

1806-1879 (aged 73)

politician journalist professor engineer economist

Michel Chevalier was a French engineer, statesman, economist and free market liberal.

61. Paul Héroult

1863-1914 (aged 51)

chemist inventor physicist

Paul Héroult (10 April 1863 – 9 May 1914) was a French scientist. He was one of the inventors of the Hall-Héroult process for smelting aluminium, and developed the first successful commercial electric arc furnace. He lived in Thury-Harcourt, Normandy.

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62. Hassoumi Massoudou

1957-. (aged 69)

politician minister

Hassoumi Massaoudou is a Nigerien politician who served as minister of Foreign Affairs of Niger from 2021 to 2023 and as minister of Finance from October 2016 to January 2019. A leading member of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-Tarayya), he was minister of Communication, Culture, Youth and Sports from 1993 to 1994, president of the PNDS Parliamentary...

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63. Alexandre Brongniart

1770-1847 (aged 77)

mineralogist herpetologist geologist mining engineer paleontologist

Alexandre Brongniart was a French chemist, mineralogist, geologist, paleontologist, and zoologist, who collaborated with Georges Cuvier on a study of the geology of the region around Paris. Observing fossil content as well as lithology in sequences, he classified Tertiary formations and was responsible for defining 19th century geological studies as a subject of science by assembling observations and classifications.

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64. Denis Ranque

1952-. (aged 74)

engineer businessperson entrepreneur

Denis Ranque is a French engineer and businessman who was CEO and chairman of Thales Group from 1998 until 2009.

65. Gabriel Lamé

1795-1870 (aged 75)

mathematician physicist university teacher mining engineer

Gabriel Lamé was a French mathematician who contributed to the theory of partial differential equations by the use of curvilinear coordinates, and the mathematical theory of elasticity (for which linear elasticity and finite strain theory elaborate the mathematical abstractions).

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66. Jacques Aschenbroich

1954-. (aged 72)

entrepreneur

Jacques André Aschenbroich is the Chairman of French telecoms company Orange. He is the former CEO of Valeo and held the position between 2016 and 2022.

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67. Abraham Serfaty

1926-2010 (aged 84)

writer engineer activist politician

Abraham Serfaty was a Moroccan Marxist-Leninist dissident, militant and political activist. He was imprisoned for years by King Hassan II of Morocco, for his political actions in favor of democracy, during the Years of Lead. He paid a high price for such actions: fifteen months living underground, seventeen years of imprisonment and eight years of exile. He returned to Morocco...

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68. Paul Pierre Lévy

1886-1971 (aged 85)

university teacher mathematician engineer

Paul Pierre Lévy was a French mathematician who was active especially in probability theory, introducing fundamental concepts such as local time, stable distributions and characteristic functions. Lévy processes, Lévy flights, Lévy measures, Lévy's constant, the Lévy distribution, the Lévy area, the Lévy arcsine law, and the fractal Lévy C curve are named after him.

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69. Patrick Kron

1953-. (aged 73)

engineer business executive

Patrick Kron was the chairman and chief executive (Président-directeur général) of the French engineering conglomerate Alstom. Alstom is most well known for its TGV trains, and is headquartered at Saint-Ouen.

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70. Charles de Freycinet

1828-1923 (aged 95)

writer engineer official politician

Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet was a French statesman who served four times as Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Moderate Republican faction.

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71. Louis Armand

1905-1971 (aged 66)

university teacher mining engineer French resistance fighter inventor official

Louis François Armand was a French engineer and senior civil servant who managed several public companies, as well as had a significant role in World War II as an officer in the Resistance. He became the first president of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) as chair of the Armand Commission from 1958 to 1959 before he was elected to...

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72. Jean-Louis Bianco

1943-. (aged 83)

mining engineer politician magistrate

Jean-Louis Bianco is a French politician and civil servant who served as Minister of Social Affairs and Integration from 1991 to 1992 and Minister of Equipment, Transport and Housing from 1992 to 1993 under President François Mitterrand. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he was later elected to the National Assembly in 1997, where he represented the 1st constituency...

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73. Joseph Bertrand

1822-1900 (aged 78)

economist mathematician professor

Joseph Louis François Bertrand was a French mathematician and historian of science whose work emphasized number theory, differential geometry, probability theory, economics and thermodynamics.

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74. Salvador de Madariaga

1886-1978 (aged 92)

university teacher diplomat engineer literary critic opinion journalist

Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo was a Spanish "eminent liberal", diplomat, writer, historian and pacifist who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize and awarded the Charlemagne Prize in 1973.

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75. Isabelle Kocher

1966-. (aged 60)

businessperson business executive

Isabelle Kocher is a French businesswoman. She was the chief executive officer of Engie (previously GDF Suez) until February 2020.

76. Najla Bouden

1958-. (aged 68)

academic politician

Najla Bouden, also known as Najla Bouden Romdhane, is a Tunisian geologist and university professor who served as the prime minister of Tunisia from October 2021 to August 2023. She took office on 11 October 2021, making her the first female prime minister both in Tunisia and the Arab world. She previously served in the education ministry in 2011.

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77. Camille Jordan

1838-1922 (aged 84)

mathematician engineer professor university teacher

Marie Ennemond Camille Jordan was a French mathematician, known both for his foundational work in group theory and for his textbook Cours d'analyse de l'École polytechnique.

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78. Quintino Sella

1827-1884 (aged 57)

economist university teacher mathematician crystallographer politician

Quintino Sella was an Italian politician, economist and mountaineer.

79. Matthieu Orphelin

1972-. (aged 54)

politician

Matthieu Orphelin is a French politician who served as a member of the French National Assembly from 2017 to 2022, representing Maine-et-Loire.

80. Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron

1799-1864 (aged 65)

university teacher engineer physicist

Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron was a French engineer and physicist, one of the founders of thermodynamics.

81. Émile Nouguier

1841-1897 (aged 56)

civil engineer

Émile Nouguier was a French civil engineer and architect. He is famous for co-designing the Eiffel Tower, built 1887–1889 for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France, the Garabit viaduct, the highest in the world at the time, near Ruynes-en-Margeride, Cantal, France, and the Faidherbe Bridge over the Sénégal River in Senegal.

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82. Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play

1806-1882 (aged 76)

economist engineer sociologist politician

Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play was a French engineer, sociologist and economist.

83. Bernard Chazelle

1955-. (aged 71)

computer scientist mathematician engineer

Bernard Chazelle is a French computer scientist. He is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. Much of his work is in computational geometry, where he is known for his study of algorithms, such as linear-time triangulation of a simple polygon, as well as major complexity results, such as lower bound techniques based on discrepancy theory. He...

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84. Tidjane Thiam

1962-. (aged 64)

businessperson chief executive officer minister politician

Tidjane Thiam is an Ivorian businessman and politician. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Swiss bank Credit Suisse from March 2015 to February 2020. He was the chief financial officer of British banking group Prudential from 2007 to 2009, and then its CEO until 2015. In 2019, Thiam became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He...

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85. Alain Poher

1909-1996 (aged 87)

statesperson French resistance fighter politician

Alain Émile Louis Marie Poher was a French politician who served as President of the Senate from 1968 to 1992. In this capacity, he was twice briefly acting President of France, in 1969 and 1974 following the resignation of Charles de Gaulle and the death of Georges Pompidou, respectively. Poher was affiliated with the Popular Republican Movement (MRP) until 1966...

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86. Léon Walras

1834-1910 (aged 76)

economist mathematician professor

Marie-Esprit-Léon Walras was a French mathematical economist and Georgist. He formulated the marginal theory of value (independently of William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger) and pioneered the development of general equilibrium theory. Walras is best known for his book Éléments d'économie politique pure, a work that has contributed greatly to the mathematization of economics through the concept of general equilibrium.

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87. Anne Lauvergeon

1959-. (aged 67)

politician physicist entrepreneur engineer businessperson

Anne Lauvergeon is a French businesswoman who was CEO of Areva from 2001 to 2011. According to The Wall Street Journal, she is known internationally as one of the most prominent defenders of nuclear power.

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88. Patrick Pouyanné

1963-. (aged 63)

engineer industrialist businessperson chief executive officer

Patrick Jean Pouyanné is a French businessman and engineer who has been the chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies since 2014.

89. Ignacy Domeyko

1802-1889 (aged 87)

university teacher mineralogist meteorologist geologist mining engineer

Ignacy Domeyko or Domejko, pseudonym: Żegota was a Polish geologist, mineralogist, educator, and founder of the University of Santiago, in Chile. Domeyko spent most of his life, and died, in his adopted country, Chile.

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90. Alexandre-Émile Béguyer de Chancourtois

1820-1886 (aged 66)

mineralogist academic chemist geologist

Alexandre-Émile Béguyer de Chancourtois was a French geologist and mineralogist who was the first to arrange the chemical elements in order of atomic weights, doing so in 1862. De Chancourtois only published his paper, but did not publish his actual graph with the irregular arrangement. Although his publication was significant, it was ignored by chemists as it was written in...

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91. Henry Louis Le Châtelier

1850-1936 (aged 86)

chemist professor engineer

Henry Louis Le Chatelier was a French chemist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He devised Le Chatelier's principle, used by chemists to predict the effect a changing condition has on a system in chemical equilibrium.

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92. Maurice Allais

1911-2010 (aged 99)

economist researcher engineer physicist

Maurice Félix Charles Allais was a French physicist and economist, the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources", along with John Hicks (Value and Capital, 1939) and Paul Samuelson (The Foundations of Economic Analysis, 1947), to neoclassical synthesis. They formalize the self-regulation of...

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93. Carlos Ghosn

1954-. (aged 72)

writer business executive engineer entrepreneur

Carlos Ghosn is a businessman and former automotive executive. He was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Michelin North America, chairman and CEO of Renault, chairman of AvtoVAZ, chairman and CEO of Nissan, and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors.

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94. Henri Poincaré

1854-1912 (aged 58)

physicist writer polymath philosopher philosopher of science

Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The Last Universalist", since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime. He has further been called "the Gauss of modern mathematics". Due to his success in science, along...

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95. Albert François Lebrun

1871-1950 (aged 79)

entomologist engineer politician

Albert François Lebrun was a French politician who served as President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance (ARD).

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96. Anne Bouverot

1966-. (aged 60)

engineer business executive

Anne Bouverot is a French business executive, engineer, AI researcher, and a philanthropist.

97. Georges Charpak

1924-2010 (aged 86)

researcher French resistance fighter physicist

Hersz Georges Charpak was a Polish-born French physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992 for his invention of the multiwire proportional chamber.

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98. Jean-Louis Masson

1947-. (aged 79)

engineer politician

Jean-Louis Masson is a French politician. An Independent, he has served as a Senator for Moselle since 2001. He previously served as a member of the National Assembly for Moselle from 1978 to 1997. Masson is a former member of the Rally for the Republic (RPR) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).

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99. Jacques Attali

1943-. (aged 83)

writer economist banker politician

Jacques José Mardoché Attali is a French economic and social theorist, writer, political adviser and senior civil servant.

100. Jean-Jacques Favier

1949-2023 (aged 74)

engineer astronaut physicist

Jean-Jacques Favier was a German-born French engineer and a CNES astronaut who flew aboard the STS-78 NASA Space Shuttle mission in 1996. Favier was due to fly aboard the doomed Columbia mission in 2003 (STS-107), but later opted out of the mission. Jean-Jacques Favier was deputy director for space technology and deputy director for advanced concepts and strategy at CNES,...

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