Famous People Born In Reims

Renowned sociologist and cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard is remembered for introducing concepts of hyperreality and simulacrum. Initially a teacher of German literature in schools, he later taught sociology at Paris X Nanterre. He coined the phrase the desert of the real, which was later used in the film The Matrix.

Born into a merchant family in France, Jean-Baptiste Colbert grew up to hold various administrative posts. Patronized by Cardinal Mazarin, he became affluent and later became one of the most efficient administrators during the regime of Louis XIV. He also established the French merchant navy.

Madame Clicquot Ponsardin was a French businesswoman and Champagne producer. Clicquot is best remembered for taking over her husband's business and turning the company into a world-famous Champagne house. Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, the company which still bears her name, is credited with inventing a novel technique called riddling which is still used today to make better Champagne.

Born to parents who ran a bicycle school, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and her two siblings gained an interest in racing in their early years. Apart from winning the XCO world championship thrice, she also became the first to hold the road, the cyclocross, and the mountain bike world titles simultaneously.

Maurice Halbwachs was one of the few French sociologists to work empirically. One of the brightest students at École Normale Supérieure, he later joined socialist movements. Though appreciated for his work on memory and its social conditions, he was detained by the Nazis and died in the Buchenwald concentration camp.

French scholar Roger Caillois is best remembered for his work Man, Play and Games, which studied the concept of play and games in the social context. He also established the UNESCO-funded journal Diogenes and received honors such as awards such as the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière.

Pierre Hadot was a French historian of philosophy and philosopher who specialized in ancient philosophy. Hadot is credited with introducing Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's thoughts to France. He also published commentaries on and translations of Porphyry of Tyre, Plotinus, St. Ambrose, and Marcus Aurelius.

Maurice Couve de Murville was a French diplomat and politician who served as the prime minister of France from 1968 to 1969. Prior to this, he was the minister of foreign affairs from 1958 to 1968. He played a key role in the critical Franco-German treaty of cooperation and laid the foundation for the Paris-Bonn axis as the foreign minister.