France has a long history of innovation and scientific discovery, contributing to various fields such as physics, mathematics, engineering, medicine, and the arts. [1] French inventors and scientists have pioneered breakthroughs that shaped the modern world, from the development of photography and the metric system to advancements in aviation, nuclear physics, and immunology. This list showcases notable examples.
Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville earliest sound recording device.
from Helmut Gernsheim's article, "The 150th Anniversary of Photography," in History of Photography, Vol. I, No. 1, January 1977: ... In 1822, Niépce coated a glass plate ... The sunlight passing through ... This first permanent example ... was destroyed ... some years later.
The result, obtained using a formula originally proved by de Moivre but now called Stirling's formula, occurs in his `Doctrine of Chances' of 1733..
I consider that the fact that Stirling showed that De Moivre's arithmetical constant was √2π does not entitle him to claim the theorem, [...]
Original text : Avant que de finir ce Mémoire, je crois devoir rendre compte d'un fait que je dois au hasard, & qui me parut d'abord ... singulier ... j'en avois rempli une fiole cylindrique, longue de cinq pouces, & d'un pouce de diamètre ou environ ; & l'ayant couverte d'un morceau de vessie mouillée & ficelée au col du vaisseau, je l'avois plongée dans un grand vase plein d'eau, afin d'être sûr qu'il ne rentrât aucun air dans l'esprit de vin. Au bout de cinq ou six heures, je fus tout surpris de voir que la fiole étoit plus pleine qu'au moment de son immersion, quoiqu'elle le fût alors autant que ses bords pouvoient le permettre ; la vessie qui lui servoit de bouchon, étoit devenue convexe & si tendue, qu’en la piquant avec une épingle, il en sortit un jet de liqueur qui s'éleva à plus d'un pied de hauteur.
Translation : Before finishing this memoir, I think I should report an event that I owe to chance and which at first seemed to me ... strange ... I filled [with alcohol] a cylindrical vial, five inches long and about one inch in diameter; and [after] having covered it with piece of damp bladder [which was] tied to the neck of the vial, I immersed it in a large bowl full of water, in order to be sure that no air re-entered the alcohol. At the end of 5 or 6 hours, I was very surprised to see that the vial was fuller than at the moment of its immersion, although it [had been filled] as far as its sides would allow ; the bladder that served as its cap, bulged and had become so stretched that on pricking it with a needle, there came from it a jet of alcohol that rose more than a foot high.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)"Levi Strauss had the canvas made into waist overalls. Miners liked the pants, but complained that they tended to chafe. Levi Strauss substituted a twilled cotton cloth from France called "serge de Nimes." The fabric later became known as denim and the pants were nicknamed blue jeans." In French of Nimes or De Nimes shortened to Denim
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link).{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link)