Famous People Born In Lyon

Karim Benzema is a French football player often described as strong, powerful, and immensely talented striker. Over the years, Karim has gained the reputation of not missing an opportunity to score a goal once he gets inside the penalty area. In 2010, he got into legal trouble after visiting a 16-year-old prostitute in Paris. The charges were dropped in 2014.

French writer, poet, aristocrat, and journalist, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, is best remembered for his novella, The Little Prince. He was a pioneering aviator as a young man. A successful commercial pilot before World War II, he joined the French Air Force at the start of the war. Equally successful as a writer, he won several of France's highest literary awards.

Andre Marie Ampere was a French physicist and mathematician. He is best known for being one of the founders of the science of classical electromagnetism. He was a professor at the École Polytechnique and the Collège de France and a member of the French Academy of Sciences. The base SI unit of electric current, the ampere, is named after him. 

Yannick Bolasie is a professional footballer. He currently  plays as a winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Çaykur Rizespor. In the past, he has played in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle, Barnet, Bristol City, and Crystal Palace, among others. He also plays for the DR Congo national football team. Besides football, he has a keen interest in grime music. 

Kurt Zouma is a French football player who currently plays for the France national team as well as the West Ham United of Premier League. Zouma, who made his professional debut at the age of 16, was named in the ten most promising young players list by The Observer. Kurt Zouma has won prestigious titles, including two Premier League titles.

French economist Jean-Baptiste Say supported free trade and competition. Scholars of economics know him for his law of markets, which states that supply creates its own demand. He had experimented with many jobs, from being a journalist to owning a cotton mill, and eventually became an economics professor.

Camille Jordan was a French mathematician best remembered for his influential Cours d'analyse and his foundational work in group theory. He also served as an educator, teaching at prestigious institutions like the Collège de France and École Polytechnique. The asteroid 25593 Camillejordan is named in his honor.

Marc Bloch was a French historian and founding member of a group of influential historians, which came to be known as the Annales School. Over the course of his illustrious career, Bloch published many of his works on Medieval France. He also taught at prestigious universities like the University of Strasbourg, the University of Montpellier, and the University of Paris.

Allan Kardec was a French educator, author, and translator. The founder of Spiritism, Kardec is best remembered for writing five books which are collectively known as the Spiritist Codification. His work with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi helped lay the foundation for the teaching model in France and Germany.

Born in Lyon, Frenchwoman Maximiani Julia Portas later changed her name to Savitri Devi and adopted Nazism. The ardent cat lover earned a PhD in philosophy and later acquired Greek nationality and served as an Axis spy. She claimed Adolf Hitler was an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu.

Natalie Dessay is a French actress, singer, and former operatic soprano. In 1992, Dessay portrayed Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann for which she gained wide recognition. Her performance also gained her access to leading opera houses around the world. Over the years Natalie Dessay has won several prestigious awards, such as the Laurence Olivier Award.

Jean-Claude Trichet is a French economist. He was the president of the European Central Bank from 2003 to 2011. Previously, he had been the governor of the Bank of France from 1993 to 2003 under the presidencies of François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac. A much-decorated personality, he is a Commander of the Legion of Honor.  

Abbe Pierre was a French Catholic priest and a member of the Resistance during World War II. Born into a wealthy Catholic family, he entered the Capuchin Order as a teenager and renounced all his inheritances. Later on, he founded the Emmaus movement to help poor and homeless people. He remained active until his death at the age of 94.

Maurice Herzog was a French administrator and mountaineer. He is best remembered for leading the French Annapurna expedition in 1950, which scaled the Annapurna peak of over 8000m for the first time. Maurice Herzog reached the peak along with Louis Lachenal and wrote a best-selling book titled Annapurna after his return.

French organist, composer and teacher Charles-Marie Widor, counted among the greatest organists of his time, is best-remembered for his ten organ symphonies, of mid-Romantic era. The Toccata piece from his fifth organ symphony, often referred as Widor's Toccata, is considered one of the most famous organ pieces and is frequently played as recessional music during festive Christmas and wedding ceremonies.

Hector Guimard was a French designer and architect. A popular exponent of the Art Nouveau style, Guimard is credited with designing several important landmarks, including Paris' first Art Nouveau apartment building, The Castel Béranger. Although Art Nouveau went out of style during the 1910s, Hector Guimard's works attracted critical acclaim in the 1960s, with art historians praising his architectural works.

Erik Murphy is a Finnish-American basketball player who plays as a power forward. Apart from playing for popular clubs like Chicago Bulls and Austin Spurs, Murphy has also represented the Finnish national team in prominent tournaments like the FIBA Basketball World Cup and EuroBasket championship.