Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and philosopher who became notorious for acts of sexual cruelty in his writings as well as in his own life.

French writer Simone de Beauvoir laid the foundation for the modern feminist movement. Also an existentialist philosopher, she had a long-term relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre.

Maximilien de Robespierre was an official during the French Revolution and one of the principal architects of the Reign of Terror.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a famed 19th-century French painter and poster artist known for works like 'The Streetwalker' and 'At the Moulin Rouge.'

Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette fought in the American Revolutionary War and helped shape France's political structure before and after the French Revolution.

French philosopher Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède and de Montesquieu, was a highly influential political thinker during the Age of Enlightenment.

French engineer and physicist Charles de Coulomb made pioneering discoveries in electricity and magnetism, and came up with the theory called Coulomb's Law.

French aviator and author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry documented his adventures as a pilot in works such as 'Wind, Sand and Stars' and 'The Little Prince.'

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates French author Victor Hugo Hugo who completed ‘Les Miserables’ on this day in 1862, almost 20 years after he began writing his masterpiece.