Chemists from France

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Frenchs Chemists of all time. This list of famous Frenchs Chemists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Frenchs Chemists.

1. #1

   

   Louis Pasteur

   1822 - 1895

   HPI 89.24164 langs

   Louis Pasteur is most famous for his work in the field of microbiology. He is credited with discovering the principles of vaccination,...Read moreShow less

   Louis Pasteur is most famous for his work in the field of microbiology. He is credited with discovering the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization.

2. #2

   

   Antoine Lavoisier

   1743 - 1794

   HPI 86.04108 langs

   Antoine Lavoisier is most famous for his work in chemistry. He discovered that water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen....Read moreShow less

   Antoine Lavoisier is most famous for his work in chemistry. He discovered that water is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. He also discovered the law of conservation of mass, which states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.

3. #3

   

   Irène Joliot-Curie

   1897 - 1956

   HPI 82.1899 langs

   She was a French physicist and chemist who was the daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935...Read moreShow less

   She was a French physicist and chemist who was the daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 for her discovery of artificial radioactivity.

4. #4

   

   Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac

   1778 - 1850

   HPI 81.2178 langs

   Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac is most famous for his law of combining volumes, which states that when gases combine, the volume of the resulting...Read moreShow less

   Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac is most famous for his law of combining volumes, which states that when gases combine, the volume of the resulting gas is the sum of the volumes of the individual gases.

5. #5

   

   Henri Moissan

   1852 - 1907

   HPI 77.6975 langs

   Henri Moissan is most famous for his discovery of the element fluorine.

6. #6

   

   Alfred Werner

   1866 - 1919

   HPI 76.6270 langs

   Alfred Werner is most famous for his discovery of the chemical composition of chlorophyll.

7. #7

   

   Victor Grignard

   1871 - 1935

   HPI 76.4174 langs

   Victor Grignard was a chemist who is most famous for developing the Grignard reaction. The Grignard reaction is a chemical reaction in which...Read moreShow less

   Victor Grignard was a chemist who is most famous for developing the Grignard reaction. The Grignard reaction is a chemical reaction in which an alkyl or aryl halide reacts with an alkali metal to form an organomagnesium compound.

8. #8

   

   Henry Louis Le Chatelier

   1850 - 1936

   HPI 76.2049 langs

   Henry Louis Le Chatelier is most famous for his principle of Le Chatelier's Principle, which states that if a system at equilibrium is...Read moreShow less

   Henry Louis Le Chatelier is most famous for his principle of Le Chatelier's Principle, which states that if a system at equilibrium is disturbed, the system will shift to counteract the disturbance.

9. #9

   

   Jean-Pierre Sauvage

   b. 1944

   HPI 74.9256 langs

   Jean-Pierre Sauvage is most famous for his discovery of the chemical reaction that creates a new type of molecule called a [succinimide]...Read moreShow less

   Jean-Pierre Sauvage is most famous for his discovery of the chemical reaction that creates a new type of molecule called a [succinimide] that he and his colleagues found to be an important part of the process of photosynthesis.

10. #10

    

    Paul Sabatier

    1854 - 1941

    HPI 74.8566 langs

    Paul Sabatier is most famous for his work in the field of catalysis. He developed a process for hydrogenation of organic compounds, which is...Read moreShow less

    Paul Sabatier is most famous for his work in the field of catalysis. He developed a process for hydrogenation of organic compounds, which is widely used in the chemical industry.