List of Famous people born in France

Jean Becquerel was a French physicist, and son of Antoine-Henri Becquerel. He worked on the optical and magnetic properties of crystals, discovering the rotation of the plane of polarisation by a magnetic field. He also published a textbook on relativity. In 1909, he became the fourth in his family to occupy the physics chair at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, following in the footsteps of his father, his grandfather A. E. Becquerel and his great-grandfather Antoine César Becquerel.

Michel Debost, is a French flutist.

Ernest-Charles Lasègue was a French physician that released over one hundred scientific papers. He became recognized in the mid-19th century from his work in the fields of psychiatry and neurology. He published many of his works in a journal called Archives Générales de Médecine, in which he was an editor. A few of his major contributions consisted of his work with delusions of persecutions, a concept coined "folie à deux," and his description of hysterical anorexia. Aside from his publications, he worked various jobs before becoming the Chair of Clinical Medicine at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital. He remained positioned there until dying at the age of 66 due to complications from diabetes.

Pierre Yrieix Daumesnil was a French soldier in the armies of Napoleon during the first Empire and Restoration, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general. He lost his left leg after he was wounded in the Battle of Wagram; it was replaced by a wooden prosthesis earning him the nickname jambe de bois. In 1812, he was assigned to the defense of the Château de Vincennes. Vincennes was then an arsenal containing 52,000 new muskets, more than 100 cannon and many tons of powder, bullets and cannonballs—a tempting prize for the Sixth Coalition when it marched on Paris in 1814 in the aftermath of the Battle of the Nations. However Daumesnil faced down the allies with the famous words "I shall surrender Vincennes when I get my leg back". With only 300 men under his command, he resisted the Coalition until King Louis XVIII of France ordered him to leave the fortress.

Antoine Vitez was a French actor, director, and poet. He became a central character and influence on the French theater in the post-war period, especially in the technique of teaching drama. He was also translator of Chekhov, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Mikhail Sholokhov.

Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier, pen-name Mélesville was a French dramatist. The playwright Mélesville fils was his son.

Denis-Antoine-Luc, comte de Frayssinous was a French prelate and statesman, orator and writer. He was the eighth member elected to occupy Seat 3 of the Académie Française in 1822.