François Jacob won a Nobel Prize in Physiology for discoveries involving the regulatory activities of bacteria.

• Biologist, Scientist, Physiologist
  (1920–2013)

French writer and physician François Rabelais wrote the comic masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel, which is praised for its use of language and satire.

• Priest, Author, Doctor
  (c. 1494–c. 1553)

French writer and poet André Breton is best known as one of the founders of the Surrealist movement in literature and art.

• Publisher, Literary Critic, Philosopher, Author, Artist, Poet, Journalist, Editor
  (1896–1966)

Henri Becquerel was a French physicist best known for his work on radioactivity, for which he won a Nobel Prize in 1903.

• Scientist, Physicist, Academic
  (1852–1908)

Albert Camus was a French-Algerian writer best known for his absurdist works, including The Stranger (1942) and The Plague (1947). He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

• Author, Journalist, Playwright
  (1913–1960)

French novelist Claude Simon’s novels include The Wind; The Grass; and The Flanders Road. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1985.

• Author
  (1913–2005)

Anatole France was a French writer of satire and fantasy. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921.

• Literary Critic, Philosopher, Author
  (1844–1924)

Émile Zola was one of the most prominent French novelists of the late 19th century. He was noted for his theories of naturalism as expressed in 'Les Rougon-Macquart.'

• Activist, Author
  (1840–c. 1902)