Learn about important dates in French and francophone history: famous birthdays, holidays and celebrations, and other milestones. If the above does not match today's date or you wish to choose a specific date, please click here.

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Birthdays

1494 - King François I (France)

1725 - Guillaume Le Gentil (French astronomer)

1888 - Maurice Chevalier (French singer and actor)

1897 - Irène Joliot-Curie (French chemist)

Deaths

1642 - Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars (French conspirator)

1672 - Tanneguy Lefebvre (French classical scholar)

1733 - François Couperin (French composer)

1764 - Jean-Philippe Rameau (French composer)

1874 - François Guizot (French historian and statesman)

1923 - Jules Violle (French physicist and inventor)

Milestones/Events

1940 - Cave of Lascaux discovered

Errors and Omissions

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