France

===Science and technology===
{{Main|Science and technology in France|List of French inventions and discoveries}}
[[File:Ariane_5_with_James_Webb_Space_Telescope_Prelaunch_(51773093465).jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Ariane 5 rocket|France is in 2020 the biggest national financial contributor to the [[European Space Agency]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Funding |url=https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/Funding |website=esa.int}}</ref> which conceived the [[Ariane (rocket family)|Ariane rocket family]], launched from [[Guiana Space Centre|French Guiana]] ([[Ariane 5]] pictured).]]
Since the [[Middle Ages]], France has contributed to scientific and technological achievement. In the early 11th century, the French-born [[Pope Sylvester II]] reintroduced the [[abacus]] and [[armillary sphere]] and introduced [[Arabic numerals]] and [[clock]]s to much of Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |first=William |last=Godwin |year=1876 |title=Lives of the Necromancers |url=https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog |page=232}}</ref> The [[University of Paris]], founded in the mid-12th century, is still one of the most important academic institutions in the Western world.<ref>André Thuilier, Histoire de l'université de Paris et de la Sorbonne, Paris, Nouvelle librairie de France, 1994</ref> In the 17th century, mathematician and philosopher [[René Descartes]] pioneered [[Rationalism|rationalism as a method for acquiring scientific knowledge]], while [[Blaise Pascal]] became famous for his work on [[probability]] and [[fluid mechanics]]; both were key figures of the [[Scientific Revolution]], which blossomed in Europe during this period. The [[French Academy of Sciences]], founded in the mid-17th century by [[Louis XIV]] to encourage and protect French [[Scientific method|scientific research]], was one of the earliest [[Academy of sciences|national scientific institutions]] in history.

The [[Age of Enlightenment]] was marked by the work of biologist [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon|Buffon]], one of the first naturalists to recognize [[ecological succession]], and chemist [[Antoine Lavoisier|Lavoisier]], who discovered the role of [[oxygen]] in [[combustion]]. [[Denis Diderot|Diderot]] and [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert|D'Alembert]] published the ''[[Encyclopédie]]'', which aimed to give the public access to "useful knowledge" that could be applied to everyday life.<ref>Burke, Peter, A social history of knowledge: from Gutenberg to Diderot, Malden: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 2000, p. 17</ref> The [[Industrial Revolution]] of the 19th century saw spectacular scientific developments in France, with [[Augustin Fresnel]] founding modern [[optics]], [[Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot|Sadi Carnot]] laying the foundations of [[thermodynamics]], and [[Louis Pasteur]] pioneering [[microbiology]]. Other eminent French scientists of the period have their [[List of the 72 names on the Eiffel Tower|names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower]].

Famous French scientists of the 20th century include the mathematician and physicist [[Henri Poincaré]]; physicists [[Henri Becquerel]], [[Pierre Curie|Pierre]] and [[Marie Curie]], who remain famous for their work on [[radioactivity]]; physicist [[Paul Langevin]]; and virologist [[Luc Montagnier]], co-discoverer of [[HIV AIDS]]. [[Hand transplantation]] was developed in [[Lyon, France|Lyon]] in 1998 by an international team that included [[Jean-Michel Dubernard]], who afterward performed the first successful double hand transplant.<ref name="dubernard1">{{Cite journal |last1=Lanzetta M |last2=Petruzzo P |last3=Dubernard JM |last4=Margreiter |first4=Raimund |last5=Schuind |first5=Frederic |last6=Breidenbach |first6=Warren |last7=Nolli |first7=Roberta |last8=Schneeberger |first8=Stephan |last9=Van Holder |first9=Carlo |display-authors=3 |date=July 2007 |title=Second report (1998–2006) of the International Registry of Hand and Composite Tissue Transplantation |journal=Transpl Immunol. |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1016/j.trim.2007.03.002 |pmid=17584595}}</ref> [[Remote surgery|Telesurgery]] was [[Lindbergh operation|first performed]] by French surgeons led by [[Jacques Marescaux]] on 7 September 2001 across the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="istmarescaux">{{Cite web |author=Dr. Ghodoussi |title=Media Collection |url=http://www.intersurgtech.com/media.html |access-date=14 November 2011 |publisher=Interface Surgical Technologies, LLC}}</ref> A [[face transplant]] was first done on 27 November 2005 by [[Bernard Devauchelle]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Austin |first=Naomi |date=17 October 2006 |title=My face transplant saved me |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6058696.stm |access-date=25 November 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=30 November 2005 |title=Woman has first face transplant |publisher=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4484728.stm}}</ref> France ranked 11th in the 2023 [[Global Innovation Index]], compared to 16th in 2019.<ref>{{Cite book |last=WIPO |title=Global Innovation Index 2023, 15th Edition |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2023/index.html |access-date=2023-10-17 |date=12 December 2023 |publisher=World Intellectual Property Organization |doi=10.34667/tind.46596 |isbn=9789280534320 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Innovation Index 2019 |url=https://www.wipo.int/global_innovation_index/en/2019/index.html |access-date=2 September 2021 |website=www.wipo.int |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=RTD - Item |url=https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/rtd/items/691898 |access-date=2 September 2021 |website=ec.europa.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=28 October 2013 |title=Global Innovation Index |url=https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship-innovation/global-innovation-index-2930 |access-date=2 September 2021 |website=INSEAD Knowledge |language=en |archive-date=2 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902101622/https://knowledge.insead.edu/entrepreneurship-innovation/global-innovation-index-2930 |url-status=dead }}</ref>