France

French Republic
Flag
Location  Europe
Capital  Paris
Area  643,801 sq km
Population  67,364,357

"All things come to those that wait"
(Proverb/Quote of the Week)

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January

January 1 Starting January 1, 2020, French carrier Air France started to offset the CO2 emissions of all its domestic flights, which carry nearly 60,000 passengers every day on around 450 daily flights. The minimum wage or Smic, as it is called in French, was increased in France by 1.5% per hour on 1 January 2019, taking it from €9.88 to €10.03 gross. January 2 January 3 French power company EDF has launched its first wind farm in Poland, a 48 megawatt (MW) facility located in the northern part of the country, according to an official announcement on 3 January 2013. January 4 French and German scientists have revealed that the giant ape Gigantopithecus went extinct 100,000 years ago, due to its inability to adapt, as revealed on 4 January 2016. Analyses of fossil tooth enamel show that the primates were restricted to forested habitats. January 5 French director Jacques Audiard's film Emilia Pérez won the Best Motion Pictures award in the Non-English Language category at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards on 5 January 2025. January 6 French artificial heart-maker Carmat are set to begin sales of its devices in Europe after a long-awaited European Commission approval, as announced on 6 January 2021. François-Xavier Ortoli, a French politician, took office as President of the European Commission and served from January 6, 1973 to January 5, 1977. He was the fifth President of European Commission which is the executive body of the European Union-an economic and political union of European countries. January 7 Jacques Delors, a French politician, took office as President of the European Commission on January 7, 1985. He was the eighth President of European Commission which is the executive body of the European Union-an economic and political union of European countries. Delors was the second French politician to head the European Commission. January 8 French movie Elle won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 74th Golden Globe Awards on 8 January 2017. Researchers from France and their international colleagues have found aggressive intestinal bacteria Helicobacter pylori in a 5300-year-old mummy, famously known as Ötzi - the Copper Age man, discovered frozen in a European glacier in 1991, shedding new light on the history of human migration. Their study was published in the journal Science on 8 January 2016. January 9 French photographer Jerome Brouillet's iconic image of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina was named as the overall winner at the World Sports Photography Awards 2025. January 10 January 11 A team of international and French scientists have observed a huge amount of star-forming gas ejecting into the universe by the coming together of two galaxies. The merger created a new galaxy called ID229 as published on 11 January 2021 in the journal Nature Astronomy. French, American and Singaporean researchers have combined processors and memory on multiple hybrid chips to run AI on battery-powered smart devices, as revealed in a study published in Nature Electronics on 11 January 2021. January 12 January 13 France had the third highest proportions (29.7%) of women in corporate boardrooms in 2014, according to a study of major economies published on 13 January 2015 by the New York based organization Catalyst Inc. January 14 Rally racing driver Stéphane Peterhansel of France won the Dakar Rally for a record 13 times on 14 January 2017. January 15 France's Stephane Peterhansel won the Dakar Rally for the 14th time, 30 years after his initial success, on 15 January 2021. An international team of astronomers, including researchers from France, have spotted a cosmic explosion about 200 times more powerful than a typical supernova, as published on 15 January 2016 in the journal Science. At its peak intensity, the explosion—called ASASSN-15lh—shone with 570 billion times the luminosity of the Sun. January 16 French rally racing driver Stéphane Peterhansel clinched the Dakar Rally for the 12th time after a calm run through the final stage on 16 January 2016. Michel Camdessus from France served as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s seventh Managing Director from January 16, 1987 to February 14, 2000. IMF is an organization of over 180 member countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. January 17 The Jason-3 oceanography satellite, a $180 million satellite made by France and the United States, was successfully launched into orbit on 17 January 2016 in order to study sea level rise. January 18 January 19 French sailor Armel Le Cleac'h won the 2016-17 Vendee Globe round the world race in a new record time of 74 days, three hours and 35 minutes, crossing the finish line on 19 January 2017. Le Cleac'h surpassed Francois Gabart's 2012-13 race record of 78 days, two hours and 16 minutes. Frenchmen Stephane Peterhansel and Cyril Despres successfully defended their car and motorbike titles in the Dakar Rally on 19 January 2013. It was Stephane’s record 11th overall Dakar Rally title, while Cyril captured his fifth motorcycling crown. January 20 January 21 January 22 Wild leopard cats may have been domesticated by farmers in China more than 5,000 years ago, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE on 22 January 2016 by French researchers and their international colleagues. A mobile innovation project in France that takes visitors back to the Port of Arromanches in Normandy, France during World War II won the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Ulysses Award for Innovation in Enterprises on 22 January 2014. French scientists and their international colleagues have detected the presence of water vapour on Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System. Their study was published on 22 January 2014 in the journal Nature. January 23 France was crowned as the tenth greenest country in the world according to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2016 published by Yale University, Columbia University and the World Economic Forum. The EPI index ranks the performance of each nation in protection of human health from environmental harm and protection of ecosystems based on nine assessment areas that include air quality, climate and energy, forests and water resources. January 24 January 25 French Filmmaker Luc Besson was awarded the World Economic Forum's Crystal Award on 25 January 2012 at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Award is given each year to successful artists who have used their art to 'improve the state of the world', according to the Forum. The first Winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix, France in 1924. Chamonix saw the birth of the Winter Olympic Games from January 25 to February 5, 1924. January 26 French electronic music duo Daft Punk won four Grammys - Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Dance/Electronica Album - for their their song Get Lucky and album Random Access Memories on 26 January 2014 at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. January 27 French tennis duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut completed their career Grand Slam in men's doubles with their victory over Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia 6-4, 7-6 (1) at the 2019 Australian Open. Frenchman Francois Gabart won the seventh Vendee Globe round-the-world yacht race on 27 January 2013 after a two-and-a-half month epic journey in record time. January 28 January 29 Jean-Luc Van Den Heede, a 73-year-old French sailor, won the Golden Globe around-the-world yacht race after 212 days alone at sea without modern instruments on 29 January 2019. January 30 The 24-year-old model Iris Mittenaere of France was crowned as the 65th Miss Universe in Manila on 30 January 2017. Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France won Free Dance gold at the 2016 ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. France won the 2011 Men's Handball World Cup on January 30, 2011. France defeated Denmark 37-35 in the most thrilling World Championships final since decades. January 31

February

February 1 France became the first team in handball history to win five world championships when they beat Qatar 25-22 on 1 February 2015 in the final. France became 2009 World Men's Handball Champion on February 1, 2009. France won the championship after defeating Croatia in the final 24–19. February 2 February 3 French driver Jean-Eric Vergne won the fourth ePrix of the Formula E season in the Chilean capital Santiago on 3 February 2018 to take the overall lead in the all-electric series from Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist. February 4 French photographer Magali Chesnel won the first place in the International Landscape Photograph of the Year on 4 February 2020 for her photo entitled The Harvest of Road Salt. An international team of researchers, that also includes scientist from France, found Neanderthals may have vanished from southern Spain thousands of years earlier than previously thought, according to a carbon-dating study published on 4 February 2013 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. February 5 A team of international and French researchers has successfully grown dates from 2000-year-old seeds recovered from an ancient fortress and caves in the Middle East. The find gives clues to how dates can survive for millennia, as published in Science Advances on 5 February 2020. France and Thailand signed five accords and memorandums of understanding during the official visit of French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to Thailand on 4-5 February 2013. The five agreements cover cooperation in defense, production of four vaccines, research and development in agronomics, vocational curriculum development, and education. February 6 France was the proud organizer of 1968 Winter Olympic Games. The Games took place in Grenoble, France from February 6 to 18, 1968. The Grenoble Games were the first to be broadcast in colour. February 7 February 8 France ranked 4th out of 50 nations in global Intellectual Property (IP) Index, released on 8 February 2018 by the US Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC), which analyzes the IP climate in 50 world economies. The 1992 Winter Olympic Games were held in Albertville, France from February 8 to 23, 1992. February 9 February 10 An ancient conch shell found in a cave in Marsoulas, in the French Pyrenees, has been identified as a wind instrument used by craftsmen in the Palaeolithic period about 18,000 years ago. Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances on 10 February 2021. Martin Fourcade of France won gold in Men's 12.5 km Pursuit at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. February 11 Researchers from France and a team of international scientists have located in a quarry in Gabon evidence of mobile organisms living 2.1 billion years ago, as revealed in PNAS on 11 February 2019. February 12 French photographer Jérôme Sessini won the first and second places at the World Press Photo awards in the Spot News stories category on 12 February 2015. February 13 France conducted its first nuclear test in the Algerian Sahara desert on February 13, 1960. France was the fourth country in the world to successfully develop and test nuclear weapon. February 14 The United Nations (UN) on 14 February 2017 announced the appointment of Jean-Pierre Lacroix of France as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. France's first telephone speaking-clock, a simulated voice service that provides the correct time, began operating on February 14, 1933 in Paris. February 15 French researchers at the National agriculture research institute (INRAE) on 15 February 2021 announced that they had succeeded in cultivating the rare white truffles mainly found in Italy, a breakthrough that could spur more widespread efforts to grow the prized delicacy. February 16 February 17 February 18 French and American scientists have discovered an absolutely massive bacterium that can grow up to 0.78 inches (2 centimeters) long and lurks among the mangroves of Grande-Terre in the Caribbean, as reported on 18 February 2022. France ranked fourth in the Child Flourishing Index, a ranking based on a range of measures pertaining to children’s well-being, according to a report by the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund and the Lancet published on 18 February 2020. February 19 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 19 February 2016 selected Christine Lagarde of France to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016. February 20 France's Jean-Frédéric Chapuis, Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol won Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively in Men's Ski Cross at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games. It was France's first ever podium clean sweep at a Winter Olympic Games. February 21 February 22 A team of French and Jordanian archaeologists, a joint French-Jordanian team called the South Eastern Badia Archaeological Project, have discovered a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert, as revealed on 22 February 2022. An international team of researchers, including scientists from France, has revealed a new species of galago from Angola in a paper published by the American Journal of Physical Anthropology on 22 February 2017. The galago, which is the largest known dwarf galago or bushbaby, has been named the Angolan dwarf galago, named after the only country where it is known to occur. Scientists from France and their international colleagues have determined that the modern-day armadillo had an interesting ancestor — an animal the size of a car and named Doedicurus. Their findings were confirmed based on the DNA analysis of a 12,000-year-old fossil from Argentina, as published in the journal Current Biology on 22 February 2016. France has overtaken the United States in placing women on the boards of the world's 200 largest companies, according to a study released by Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) on 22 February 2013. For the first time, the United States lost its leading role as the country with the highest percentage of women directors in the Fortune Global 200. February 23 February 24 French actor Anthony Bajon won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his performance in La prière at the 2018 Berlin film festival. An ancient relative of the hippopotamus likely swam from Asia to Africa some 35 million years ago, long before the arrival of the lion, rhino, zebra and giraffe, according to a study published on 24 February 2015 by an international team of researchers, including scientists from France. Analysis of the previously unknown, long-extinct animal also confirms that cetaceans -- the group to which whales, dolphins and porpoises belong -- are in fact the hippo's closest living cousins. February 25 French silent film The Artist won the best film award at the Independent Spirit Awards on 25 February 2012. The film also won the best director, actor and cinematography at the annual Spirit awards, which honor independent film-making. February 26 The 2011 French romantic comedy film The Artist won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 84th Oscars in 2012. The movie follows the relationship of an older silent film star and a rising young actress in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932. February 27 February 28 French scientists have analyzed the mummified heart of English King Richard I, nicknamed Richard the Lionheart, died in 1199 his heart was embalmed and buried separately from the rest of his body. Given the condition of the remains the researchers mainly discovered about the methods used to preserve his organ. Their study was published on 28 February 2013 in the journal Scientific Reports. February 29

March

March 1 March 2 France ranked fourth in the list of the Global Energy Index 2016 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), showcasing the country's ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy. March 3 Scientists from France and Russia announced the discovery of pithovirus, the largest giant virus yet known, according to their study published on 3 March 2014. It was found frozen in a deep layer of the Siberian permafrost, but after it thawed it became infectious once again. March 4 French archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a possible Celtic prince dating to the fifth century B.C. in the small town of Lavau, in France’s Champagne region. France’s National Archaeological Research Institute (Inrap) revealed the discovery on 4 March 2015. March 5 March 6 France has the sixth largest share of women holding managerial positions at 40 percent among the European Union countries, according to the report published on 6 March 2017 by Eurostat. March 7 March 8 French skier Marie Bochet won gold at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics in the women's standing downhill skiing. March 9 March 10 March 11 March 12 French scientists were awarded 53 research grants by the European Research Council (ERC) on 12 March 2015 as part of the European Union Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020. March 13 French anthropologist and sociologist Bruno Latour was awarded the 2013 Holberg Prize by the government of Norway for his ambitious analysis and reinterpretation of modernity. March 14 March 15 March 16 French and Japanese scientists have identified a meteorite, known as Erg Chech 002, formed in the first million years of our solar system, making it the oldest known meteor of volcanic origin, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal on 16 March 2021. Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal of France won the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture's most prestigious award, for their affordable, eco-friendly spaces that prioritise the well-being of the many. French singer André Claveau won the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in 1958. The final took place on March 16, 1958. He was the first male singer to win the contest. March 17 French director François Ozon won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival for his film By the Grace of God. March 18 European aircraft maker Airbus signed its biggest deal to date on 18 March 2013 in a ceremony at the French presidential palace, an order from Indonesian Lion Air worth €18.4 billion ($24 billion) for 234 planes. The manufacturing of the planes will happen in France and is expected to create 5,000 jobs in France over the next 10 years. French singer Isabelle Aubret won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 for the song Un Premier Amour. The final took place on March 18, 1962 in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. March 19 March 20 March 21 Scientists from France, Belgium and Italy have discovered the presence of metal in the ink of two Herculaneum papyrus fragments proving that metals were used in ink several centuries earlier than previously believed, as announced on 21 March 2016. March 22 French pole vaulter Marie-Julie Bonnin comfortably cleared 4.75 metres and win gold at the World Indoor Championships on 22 April 2025. French scientists and a team of international researchers have found that single microorganisms in the human gut have the ability to disassemble the most complex of carbohydrates in our diet. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on 22 March 2017. March 23 French scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Philippe Horvath won the 2016 Gairdner Foundation International Awards respectively for development of CRISPR-CAS as a genome editing tool for eukaryotic cells and for establishing and characterizing CRISPR-Cas bacterial immune defense system. European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched its third Automated Transfer Vehicle, ATV Edoardo Amaldi, on 23 March 2012 from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. It was launched to the International Space Station in order to deliver over 7 tons of supplies and equipment. March 24 March 25 French freediver Arthur Guerin-Boeri set a record on 25 March 2021 by swimming 120 metres (394 feet) under ice, carried out with one breath in three minutes in a wetsuit but without flippers or gloves. March 26 French freediver Arthur Guerin-Boeri sets the world record for the longest distance travelled under a sheet of frozen ice with a single breath, swimming 120 metres in Finland's Lake Sonnanen, north of Helsinki, as widely reported on 26 March 2021. France and China signed a series of industrial co-operation deals worth 18 billion euros ($25 billion) on 26 March 2014 featuring aviation and automobile cooperation. March 27 Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France won the gold medal in ice dancing at the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships in Shanghai. Researchers from France, England and Germany have developed optical fiber cable that can transmit data at 99.7% the speed of light. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Photonics on 27 March 2013 are expected to increase the speed of the Internet. March 28 March 29 Latifa Ibn Ziaten from France, has devoted her life to combatting radicalization with tolerance and interfaith understanding, was awarded the 2016 International Women of Courage Award at a ceremony on 29 March 2016 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Frida Boccara, a French singer, jointly won the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest for the song Un Jour, Un Enfant. For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, the outcome of the voting resulted in a tie for the first place. Four countries gained 18 points each: France, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Since there was no solution for this situation, all four countries were declared winners. French singer Jacqueline Boyer won the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 for the song Tom Pillibi. The final took place on March 29, 1960 in London. March 30 March 31 N'Golo Kante of France won the PFA Fans' Premier League Player of the Month for March 2017 for his performance with English club Chelsea. Construction of the Eiffel Tower, a lattice tower built of pure iron in Paris, was completed on March 31, 1889. The Tower was built as a theme structure for an international exposition held in Paris in 1889 and had originally been intended to stand for only 20 years. It was officially opened on May 6, 1889.

April

April 1 April 2 April 3 April 4 French actress Simone Signoret received the Best Actress Award for her performance in Room at the Top at the 32nd Academy Awards held on April 4, 1960. Simone was the first French person to win an Academy Award. April 5 Mirazur in France was named as the World’s Fourth Best Restaurant for 2017. French MPs passed a law on 5 April 2016 that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines for those buying sexual acts. April 6 April 7 French researchers have discovered ancient human fossils in a cave in northern Laos, as reported in the scientific journal PLOS One on 7 April 2015. The discovery revealed that early modern humans were quite physically diverse, and they revealed an earlier migration timeline in Southeast Asia than previously thought. April 8 April 9 A team of researchers from France and South Africa has identified, for the first time, an egg containing an embryo of Lystrosaurus - a plant-eating mammal ancestor, dating back approximately 250 million years. The groundbreaking research was published in PLOS ONE on 9 April 2026. French archaeologists have found the world's oldest string of yarn or cord at a prehistoric site in southern France, which our Neanderthal ancestors made by twisting together natural fibers. The study was published on 9 April 2020 in the journal Scientific Reports. April 10 April 11 April 12 A French-Egyptian archaeological mission discovered the oldest commercial harbor from the fourth dynasty King Khufu (Cheops) at Wadi Al-Jarf area, 180 km south of Suez, according to an official announcement by the Egypt State Information Service on 12 April 2013. The harbor was discovered along with a collection of 40 papyri, showing details of daily life of ancient Egyptians during the 27th year of King Khufu’s reign. April 13 April 14 April 15 April 16 French photographer Romain Laurendeau’s Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt won the World Press Photo Story of the Year 2020 award. April 17 Scientists from France, Germany and the USA have detected the earliest Big Bang molecule, the helium hydride ion - HeH+, in space. The findings were published on 17 April 2019 in the journal Nature. In a world first, doctors at the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in France have performed second face transplant on the same patient, as revealed on 17 April 2018. April 18 April 19 French photographer Florian Ruiz won the first prize at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards in Creative category. April 20 April 21 A team of international and French Paleontologists has uncovered a huge concentration of fossils of various carnivorous dinosaurs in southeast Morocco’s Kem Kem beds, according to a paper published in the journal ZooKeys on 21 April 2020. French base jumpers Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen on 21 April 2014 set a new world record after jumping off the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The duo broke the Guinness World Record with their 828-meter jump from a special platform built on top of the building to add more height. French women were granted the right to vote on April 21, 1944. April 22 Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French photographer and public awareness pioneer, was awarded the prestigious Champions of the Earth award by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on April 22, 2009. He was rewarded for his grandeur of presentation through his breathtaking aerial photographs from the remotest parts of the globe. April 23 French astronaut Thomas Pesquet was launched to International Space Station (ISS) on SpaceX recycled rocket and capsule after launching from Florida on 23 April 2021. Claire Nouvian of France, a tireless defender of the oceans and marine life, was named as the winner of the 2018 Goldman Prize Europe. French footballer N’Golo Kante was crowned Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year at the 2017 PFA Awards in London. Michel Broué from the Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7, France on 23 April 2014 was elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for his contributions in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics. April 24 April 25 April 26 DCNS group of France won the US$39 billion contract to design and build 12 Future submarines for the Royal Australian Navy on 26 April 2016. French scientist along with an international team of researchers have resolved the nearly 100 year-old puzzle of the crystal structure of vaterite and concluded that vaterite is composed of at least two different crystal structures that "coexist within a pseudo-single crystal." Their findings were published on 26 April 2013 in the journal Science. April 27 April 28 An international team of researchers, including scientists from France, have discovered salty groundwater beneath the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica, according to findings published in the Nature Communications on 28 April 2015. April 29 April 30 French researchers and a team of international scientists have produced a new genome map of roses, which took eight years to complete, revealing genes involved in scent production, colour and the longevity of the flowers. Their study was published in the journal Nature Genetics on 30 April 2018. French Professor Alain Aspect was elected to the prestigious Royal Society, a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientific minds, on 30 April 2015. French and Australian scientists have manufactured a lightweight and reusable material that can absorb up to 33 times its weight in certain chemicals—a possible new tool against water pollution. According to their study, published on 30 April 2013, the team made nanosheets of boron nitride that were able to soak up a wide range of spilt oils, chemical solvents and dyes such as those discharged by the textile, paper and tannery industries.

May

May 1 May 2 May 3 May 4 Qatar signed a 6.3-billion-euro deal with French defense group Dassault on 4 May 2015 to buy 24 Rafale fighter jets, in a ceremony attended by the leaders of both countries in Doha. The eighth Summer Olympic Games were held in Paris, France from May 4 to July 27, 1924. In 1924, the number of participating National Olympic Committees jumped from 29 to 44, signaling the advent of the Olympic Games as a major event with widespread appeal. This newfound popularity was confirmed by the presence of over 1,000 journalists. May 5 A team of international and French archaeologists has discovered the earliest human burial site yet found in Africa in a small pit at the entrance of Panga ya Saidi, a leafy cave located 15 kilometres from Kenya's south-east coast. The study, sheds new light on the emotional life of early Homo sapiens 78,000 years ago, was published in the journal Nature on 5 May 2021. A team of researchers from France and their international colleagues have spotted evidence of accident rivers on Mars that existed for more than 100,000 years on the Martian surface 3.7 billion years ago, according to a study published on 5 May 2020 in the journal Nature Communications. May 6 France banned the breeding of killer whales and dolphins in captivity, as announced on 6 May 2017. France ranked as the second most tourism-friendly country in the world in the 2015 World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index. French President François Mitterand and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II formally opened the Channel Tunnel, an undersea rail tunnel linking England and France, on May 6, 1994. The 31 mile or 50 kilometer long tunnel is considered as one of the world's great technological achievements. May 7 French singer Marie Myriam won the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 for the song L'oiseau Et L'enfant. It was France's fifth victory in Eurovision Song Contest history. May 8 French footballer N'Golo Kante was named Player of the Year by the Football Writers Association(FWA) on 8 May 2017. May 9 French adventurer Jean-Jacques Savin on 9 May 2019 completed his solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a barrel after arriving at the tiny Caribbean Island of St. Eustatia, near the Dominican Republic from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa after 128 days. Paris in France was named as the world's fifth best student city, according to the fifth edition of the QS Best Student Cities Ranking published on 9 May 2018. May 10 Jeremy Lempin of France won the 1st Prize in the Story Daily Life category for his image “Doctor Pey” at the 7th Istanbul Photo Awards on 10 May 2021. May 11 Scientists from France and their international colleagues have found bones in a Bulgarian cave that show modern humans may have arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought, as published in the journal Nature on 11 May 2020. May 12 May 13 French scientists and an international group of researchers have identified the first known amber encasing an ancient sea animal called ammonite about 100 million years ago. The study was published on 13 May 2019 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences described the 6.08 gram amber, which is 33 mm long, 9.5 mm wide and 29 mm high. French economist Esther Duflo was awarded the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Social Sciences for applying novel experimental methods to evaluate the effectiveness of policies to reduce economic and social inequality. May 14 French historian and Hispanist Joseph Pérez was named as recipient of the 2014 Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences. The second modern Summer Olympic Games, also known as International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Games, were held in Paris, France in 1900. Paris Olympic Games took place from May 14, 1900 to October 28, 1900. Women made their first Olympic appearance in Paris . May 15 Édith Cresson was the first woman to have held the office of Prime Minister of France. She was elected as Prime Minister of France on May 15, 1991. May 16 French researchers and their international colleagues have uncovered that ancient giant ground sloth Mylodon darwinii — which went extinct approximately 10,000 years ago — is a close relative of the modern two-fingered sloth. Based on their DNA analysis the research, published on 16 May 2018 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests the two species diverged from one another approximately 22 million years ago. May 17 A team of French and international astronomers have detected the most distant known source of oxygen in a galaxy of stars called MACS1149-JD1 13.28 billion light years away formed only 250 million years after the Big Bang. Their findings were reported in the journal Nature on 17 may 2018. May 18 Researchers from France and their European colleagues have discovered that some lava-like formations on Mars are actually the product of mud that flows like lava. Their study was published on 18 May 2020 in the journal Nature Geoscience. French electronic music duo Daft Punk won two awards, Top Dance/Electronic Artist and Top Dance/Electronic Album for Random Access Memories, at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. May 19 May 20 In breakthrough, French surgeons at the Avicenne Hospital have built windpipes from arteries, according to the details published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) on 20 May 2018. A team of international scientists, including researchers from France, has unearthed the earliest stone tools ever found – dated at 3.3 million years old - in north-west Kenya. Their findings were reported in the journal Nature on 20 may 2015. Frédéric Passy from France jointly (with Jean Henry Dunant from Switzerland) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. It was the inaugural Nobel Prize for Peace. Passy was born in Paris on May 20, 1822. May 21 May 22 May 23 May 24 French football club Lyon won record fifth UEFA Women’s Champions League title, third in a row, on 24 May 2018 beating German side Wolfsburg 4-1. French director Jacques Audiard's film Dheepan won the Palme d'Or at the 68th Cannes Film Festival on 24 May 2015. The film tells the story of refugees fleeing post-civil war Sri Lanka for a life in France. French drama film Goodbye to Language, by French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard, won the 2014 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize. Also, French film director Clément Trehin-Lalanne received the Short Film Special Distinction award at the festival for his film AÏSSA. May 25 French director Mati Diop’s movie ATLANTIQUE (Atlantics) won the Grand Prix prize at the Cannes film festival on 25 May 2019. May 26 French professional racing driver Simon Pagenaud won the 103rd Indianapolis 500 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on 26 May 2019. The French film Blue Is the Warmest Color won the Palme d'Or, the top honor of the Cannes Film Festival, on 26 May 2013. May 27 France and Norway on 27 May 2026 signed a comprehensive defence agreement under which the two countries commit to come to each other’s aid should the need arise. French archaeologists have discovered what could be remains of the earliest false tooth found in Western Europe, according to their study published on 27 May 2014 in the journal Antiquity. The dental implant comes from the richly-furnished timber burial chamber of an Iron Age woman that was excavated in Le Chene, northern France. May 28 French murder mystery film Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. May 29 Thomas W. Ebbesen of France, Stefan W. Hell of Germany and Sir John B. Pendry of England jointly won the prestigious 2014 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for transformative contributions to the field of nano-optics that have broken long-held beliefs about the limitations of the resolution limits of optical microscopy and imaging. May 30 French Grand Prix motorcycle rider Fabio Quartararo representing team Yamaha won the Italian MotoGP on 30 May 2021 at the Mugello circuit. May 31 French football club Paris Saint-Germain on 31 May 2026 won a second straight Champions League crown, beating Arsenal 4-3 in a penalty shootout after scores were locked at 1-1. French football club Paris Saint-Germain won the UEFA Champions League for the first time after a record-breaking 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in Munich on 31 May 2025.

June

June 1 A team of international and French scientists has discovered dunes on Pluto, likely to have been formed of methane ice grains released into its rarefied atmosphere. Their findings were published in Science on 1 Jun 2018. June 2 June 3 French and international scientists using an aerial remote-sensing method have discovered the largest and oldest-known structure built by the ancient Maya civilisation – a colossal rectangular elevated platform built between 1000 and 800BC in Mexico’s Tabasco state. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on 3 June 2020. Romain Charles, a French engineer, joined the project MARS-500 along with one more European, one Chinese and three Russians. Under the project MARS-500 all six men were locked away from the outside world inside a sealed facility for the next 18 months, starting from 3 June 2010, in an unprecedented simulation of a manned mission to Mars. June 4 The Hula painted frog not seen for 60 years and declared extinct, recently rediscovered in Israel, has been reclassified as a "living fossil" by researchers from France, Germany and Israel. Their study was published in the journal Nature Communications on 4 June 2013. Air France began direct daily flights from Abuja, Nigeria to Paris from 4 June 2012 to boost tourism and economic co-operation between the two nations. June 5 June 6 June 7 June 8 June 9 French tennis duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won the Men’s Doubles title at the 2018 French Open beating Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-2 7-6(4). June 10 June 11 An international team including researchers from France, Belgium and Czech Republic have proposed a new model that shows an ocean lies only a few kilometers beneath Saturn's moon Enceladus’s icy surface. Their findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters on 11 June 2016. The genetic blueprint of the Eucalyptus grandis (flooded gum) has almost been sequenced by a team of international researchers, including scientists from France. The five-year effort to analyze the 640 million base-pair genome was reported on 11 June 2014 in the journal Nature. June 12 Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut became the first French pair to win their home Grand Slam twice when they defeated Kazakhs Alexander Bublik and Andrey Golubev 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4 in the men's doubles final at Roland Garros on 12 June 2021. June 13 June 14 June 15 June 16 June 17 Jacques de Larosière from France was the sixth Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from June 17, 1978 to January 15, 1987. IMF is an organization of over 180 member countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. June 18 Eleanor Howe and Lina Benmansour of DigitasLBi, France, won the 2016 Young Lions Health Award, presented by Lions Health and UNICEF, for their idea Unicef Brain Food which is using everyday objects to stimulate play, and providing creative ways for caregivers to interact with children. June 19 June 20 June 21 June 22 A satellite, the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM), developed by France and China, the most powerful yet for studying the farthest explosion of stars, was launched into orbit on 22 June 2024. French and American scientists have discovered a bright, mysterious geologic object – where one never existed – on Cassini mission radar images of Ligeia Mare, the second-largest sea on Saturn’s moon Titan. The object, dubbed ‘magic island’, was reported on 22 June 2014 in the journal Nature Geoscience. June 23 Record bacterium, as long as human eyelash, Thiomargarita magnifica was discovered by a team of international and French scientists living on sunken, decaying mangrove tree leaves in the French Caribbean. The research team published its description of the bacterium on 23 June 2022 in Science Magazine. Maxim Kontsevich, from the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, France, won the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics for work making a deep impact in a vast variety of mathematical disciplines, including algebraic geometry, deformation theory, symplectic topology, homological algebra and dynamical systems. June 24 June 25 French restaurant Mirazur was crowned the world's best restaurant at an awards ceremony put on by British trade magazine Restaurant in Singapore on 25 June 2019. A cow-size reptile with knobbly growths on its head roamed the central desert of Niger about 250 million years ago. Researchers from France and an international team reported the claim in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology on 25 June 2013 based on their study of fossils discovered in Niger. June 26 June 27 June 28 France on 28 June 2025 introduced a new smoking ban on parks, public gardens, bus shelters, beaches and other outdoor public spaces. A new method used by French and Chinese scientists to perform geochemical analysis of fossilised eggs has shown that oviraptor dinosaur incubated their eggs with their bodies within a 35–40° C range, similar to extant birds today. Their findings were reported in the journal Palaeontology on 28 June 2017. June 29 In a new study, published on 29 June 2021 in the journal Nature Communications, scientists from France, England and Canada show that dinosaurs were already in decline before the asteroid wiped them out. June 30 France on 30 June 2014 launched a new satellites, SPOT-7, into space from the spaceport of Sriharikota, India.

July

July 1 Breathalyzer tests became compulsory on all vehicles in France from 1 July 2012. Under new rules aimed at reducing alcohol-driven accidents, all vehicles travelling on French roads must carry a chemical or electronic breathalyzer. July 2 Chaîne des Puys–Limagne fault tectonic area, situated in the centre of France, was inscribed on the UNESCO's World Heritage List on 2 July 2018. July 3 July 4 July 5 Christine Lagarde, France's former finance minister, took office as the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 5 July 2011. She is the first woman to head the IMF. July 6 French researchers and their international collaboration have discovered the first evidence of Neanderthal cannibalism in northern Europe. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports on 6 July 2016 based on the analysis of Neanderthal human remains. France's Marion Bartoli won her first Grand Slam tennis title with a dominant 6-1 6-4 victory over German Sabine Lisicki in the Wimbledon final on 6 July 2013. July 7 July 8 July 9 France kept its position as the world's top tourist destination in 2012, with 83 million foreign visitors, according to official figures published on 9 July 2013. July 10 Scientists from France and an international team have observed in unprecedented detail the birth of a massive star within a dark cloud core about 10,000 light years from Earth, astronomers' best observation yet of a massive star embryo growing within a dark cloud. Their findings were published on 10 July 2013 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. July 11 A team of international scientists, including researchers from France, has developed the world's first vaccine against dengue fever seen to provide moderate protection in large-scale trials. Their study was published in the Lancet journal on 11 July 2014. Researchers from France and an international team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have, for the first time, determined the true color of a planet outside our solar system. If seen up close this planet, known as HD 189733b, would be a deep cobalt blue, reminiscent of Earth’s color as seen from space. Their findings were published on 11 July 2013 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. July 12 France won the 1998 FIFA World Cup by beating Brazil 3-0 in the final on July 12, 1998. It was France's first soccer world cup win. France was also the host nation in 1998. July 13 French midfielder Paul Pogba won the Young Player Award at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. France clinched their maiden under-20 FIFA Football World Cup title on 13 July 2013 after defeating Uruguay 4-1 on penalties following a goalless draw in Turkey. July 14 July 15 France won the 2018 FIFA World Cup beating Croatia 4-2 in an incredible final in Russia. It was France’s second World Cup title. July 16 French scientists and their international colleagues have located an interconnected series of meandering, iridescent white subsea pools in the Southern Aegean Sea containing high concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), as reported on 16 July 2015 in the journal Scientific Reports. The pools, which get their distinctive color from opal particles, may hold answers to questions related to deep-sea carbon storage as well as provide a means of monitoring the volcano for future eruptions. The Mont Blanc Tunnel, stretching for 7 mile or 11.6 km under the Mont Blanc Mountain - linking Italy and France, was inaugurated by the French President, Charles de Gaulle, and the Italian President, Giuseppe Saragat on July 16, 1965. This tunnel is one of the world’s deepest road tunnels beneath rock. July 17 French serial killer film Titane directed by Julia Ducournau won the Palme d'Or prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Christiane Martel of France won the 1953 Miss Universe contest at the age of 18. It was the second-ever Miss Universe pageant held on July 17, 1953. July 18 July 19 France ranked ninth at the 2018 United Nations (UN) E-Government Survey, which measures countries’ use of information and communications technologies to deliver public services. July 20 July 21 July 22 A team of international scientists, including researchers from France, for the first time have spotted a moon-forming region around a planet beyond our solar system. The research was described in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on 22 July 2021. July 23 July 24 July 25 The first ever example of a plant-eating dinosaur with feathers and scales, named Kulindradromeus zabaikalicus, has been discovered in Russia. The finding could mean that feathered dinosaurs were widespread than previously thought, as French scientists reported in the journal Science on 25 July 2014 in collaboration with a team of international researchers. July 26 The 2024 Summer Olympics, also branded as Paris 2024, - an international multi-sport event - was officially opened on 26 July 2024 in France. Researchers from France and their international colleagues have built the first artificial intelligence tool capable of identifying individual small birds without tagging. Their research was published in the British Ecological Society journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution on 26 July 2020. French scientists have unearthed a 140-million-year-old dinosaur thigh bone, which weighs 400 kilograms, in a wine-growing village in southwestern France. The two metres (6.6ft) long bone, is thought to have belonged to a sauropod, a plant-eating dinosaur with a long neck and tail, as reported on 26 July 2019. July 27 July 28 French archaeologists have found a human tooth dating to around 565,000 years ago in a prehistoric cave in south-western France, as revealed on 28 July 2015. The discovery was praised by archaeologists as the oldest human body part ever discovered in the country. July 29 French researchers, in collaboration with a team of international scientists, have shown that artificial blue light can synchronize the body clock under conditions in which natural light is scarce or unavailable. They performed their experiment under real conditions in Antarctica and published the study on 29 July 2014 which can be appreciated with the knowledge that disturbance to this biological clock causes problems with sleep, alertness, cardiovascular problems and even depression. Researchers from France, Austria and the USA have for the first time separated a particle from one of its physical properties. The study, published in Nature Communications on 29 July 2014, showed that in an interferometer a neutron's magnetic moment could be measured independently of the neutron itself - a technique could be used to remove disturbance and improve the resolution of high precision measurements. July 30 French footballer Karim Benzema won the Real Madrid’s Player of the Season award on 30 July 2020 after helping the club claim the 2019/20 LaLiga crown. July 31 France's Cassandre Beaugrand won the gold in a thrilling Paris Ollympic 2024 women's individual triathlon at Alexandre III Pontoon in the centre of Paris.

August

August 1 August 2 French archaeologists have discovered remains of luxury homes and public buildings in the city of Vienne dated back to the first century and are believed to have been in use for 300 years, as revealed on 2 August 2017. French scientists and a team of international researchers have found the strongest evidence to date for a stratosphere on an enormous planet WASP-121b outside our solar system, with an atmosphere hot enough to boil iron. Their findings were reported in the journal Nature on 2 August 2017. August 3 A drug-resistant strain of the parasite that causes malaria has been identified by French and an international group of scientists. This is the first time scientists have observed the resistance to the drug artemisinin in Africa, as revealed in the journal Nature on 3 August 2020. August 4 A team of international and French scientists has discovered a 28,000 years old perfectly preserved cave lion cub frozen in Siberia. The female cub, named Sparta, was detailed in the Quaternary journal on 4 August 2021. French inventor Franky Zapata became the first person to successfully cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard on 4 August 2019. Scientists from France, Scotland and Spain have discovered new populations of deep-sea corals growing on the slopes of the UK’s highest underwater mountain, 1400m Hebrides Terrace Seamount, as revealed on 4 August 2014. August 5 August 6 August 7 A team of astronomers, including French researchers, has uncovered a population of 39 massive ancient previously unknown galaxies — and they could inform our understanding of everything from the universe’s birth to the nature of dark matter. Their findings were published in the journal Nature on 7 August 2019. August 8 August 9 August 10 Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie won Olympic pole vault gold on 10 August 2012 in London with an Olympic record jump of 5.97 meters. August 11 French freediver Arnaud Jerald on 11 August 2022 broken the deepest underwater dive world record with bi-fins, descending to a depth of 120 metres and completing the dive in three minutes and 34 seconds. August 12 French actress Isabelle Huppert won the Best Actress award at the 2017 Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. August 13 France once again has been named the most visited country in the world, welcoming a record-breaking 84.7 million tourists last year, according to a study by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported on 13 August 2014. August 14 Researchers from France and an international team have set out the first comprehensive map of mutational processes behind the development of tumors - work that should in future lead to better ways to treat and prevent a wide range of cancers. Their study, published on 14 August 2013 in the journal Nature, discovered the genetic imprints and signatures left by DNA-damaging processes that lead to cancer. August 15 French swimmer Leon Marchand won the 200m butterfly final at the 2026 European championships in Paris to claim his first continental title. August 16 August 17 August 18 Sophie Adenot became France's first female astronaut to complete spacewalk after nearly six and a half hours outside the International Space Station on 18 August 2026. August 19 French astronomers have discovered a second planet, β Pictoris c, circling Beta Pictoris, a fledgling star in our own galaxy offering astronomers a rare glimpse of a planetary system in the making, according to a study published in the journal Nature Astronomy on 19 August 2019. In a world first, a team of researchers from France, the USA and Spain has achieved brain-to-brain transmission of information between humans. The successful transmission of information via the Internet between two human subjects – located 5,000 miles apart - was described in PLOS ONE on 19 August 2014. August 20 August 21 August 22 Alex Lanier of France beat Kodai Naraoka 21-11 21-11 to become the first French player to win a singles title in badminton's World Championships on 22 August 2026. August 23 French, Italian and English scientists have discovered that the ancient harbour of Pisa, Portus Pisanus, was established around 200 BCE in a naturally protected lagoon that was connected with the Ligurian Sea. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports on 23 August 2018. August 24 August 25 French midfielder Paul Pogba was named player of the season for the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League for his performance with Manchester United. French surfer Jeremy Flores won the Billabong Pro Tahiti tournament on 25 August 2015 for his second major victory. Researchers from France, Malta and the USA have discovered the wreck of a 2,700-year-old Phoenician trading ship and its cargo off the coast of Gozo in Malta. The ancient shipwreck may be the oldest ever found in the Mediterranean Sea, as revealed on 25 August 2014. On 25 August 1919, British Airways' forerunner company, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T), launched the world's first daily international scheduled air service between Paris and London. August 26 August 27 August 28 August 29 August 30 August 31

September

September 1 Pierre-Paul Schweitzer from France was the fourth Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from September 1, 1963 to August 31, 1973. IMF is an organization of over 180 member countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. Pascal Lamy, a French politician, assumed office as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which commenced to deal with the rules of trade between nations at a global or near-global level, in 2005. Lamy became Director-General of the World Trade Organization on 1 September 2005. September 2 Gardiner's frogs from the Seychelles islands, which are just one centimeter long, can hear sounds because they use their mouth cavity and tissue to transmit sound to their inner ears, researchers from the University of Poitiers in France reported in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 2 September 2013. September 3 September 4 September 5 September 6 French Formula One driver Pierre Gasly earned his maiden F1 win at the 2020 Italian GP representing AlphaTauri team. French actor Romain Paul won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor for his role in the movie Le Dernier Coup De Marteau at the 2014 Venice Film Festival. September 7 September 8 French and Russian scientists have unearthed a 30,000-year-old giant virus in the frozen wastelands of Siberia, and have warned climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions could awaken dangerous microscopic pathogens thought to be eradicated, as published on 8 September 2015. September 9 French photographer Julien Anton was named Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 for his extraordinary portrait of a male seahorse and two tiny juveniles alongside him. September 10 French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo received Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement at the 73rd Venice Film Festival on 10 September 2016. French documentary Le Concours won the Venice Classics Award for Best Documentary on Cinema at the 73rd Venice Film Festival on 10 September 2016. September 11 French drama Happening about illegal abortion in the 1960s, won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice festival on 11 September 2021. September 12 September 13 Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO, Total France, was recognised as a 2017 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) pioneer by the United Nations Global Compact for driving partnerships for low-carbon investments. France defeated Lithuania 95-93 in third place playoff of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup for their first ever basketball World Cup medal. September 14 September 15 September 16 Frenchman Kevin Mayer smashed American legend Ashton Eaton's decathlon world record at the Decastar meeting in Talence on 16 September 2018, scoring an incredible 9126 points. September 17 September 18 Frenchman Luc Jamet won the 2015 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award in the Skyscapes category for his image Eclipse Totality taken in the remote valley of Sassendalen, Norway. Philippe Croizon, a Frenchman who lost all his limbs, swam across the English Channel, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that forms a channel between France and Britain, in 2010. He became the first limbless man to swim the English Channel. September 19 France became the first country in the world to ban plastic cups, plates and cutlery that aren’t made from biologically sourced materials, as revealed on 19 September 2016. The law will require all disposable tableware to be made from 50% biologically-sourced materials that can be composted at home by January of 2020. September 20 September 21 Eliott Sarrey of France won the Incubator Award at the 2015 Google Science Fair for providing a sustainable solution for home-grown vegetables via a gardener robot Bot2karot. September 22 French footballer Ousmane Dembele won the men’s Ballon d’Or award on 22 September 2025 for his starring role in the Paris Saint-Germain side that lifted the Champions League trophy last season. September 23 India signed a deal on 23 September 2016 to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France for 7.9 billion euros. It was one of France's biggest defence deals in decades. September 24 Didier Deschamps of France was named the world’s Best Men’s Coach at the Best Fifa Football Awards in London on 24 September 2018. September 25 A man in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) for the past 15 years has shown signs of consciousness after pioneering nerve stimulation treatment by French scientists. The discovery was presented in the journal Current Biology on 25 September 2017. September 26 French President Emmanuel Macron was awarded the 2018 UN Champions of the Earth Award in the Policy Leadership category for his pioneering work on the Global Pact for the Environment. September 27 Eight years after its last victory, France won the final of the prestigious Bocuse d'Or culinary competition on 27 September 2021, during the International Catering Exhibition held near Lyon. September 28 French footballer Karim Benzema won the Alfredo Di Stefano Award for the Best Player in La Liga at the MARCA Awards Gala on 28 September 2022. France and Greece on 28 September 2021 announced a defence deal worth about €3 billion ($4.8 billion) that will allow them to come to each other's aid in the event of an external threat. September 29 An international team of researchers from France, England and Ireland has revealed new evidence for the possible existence of liquid water beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars, as reported in Nature Astronomy on 29 September 2022. September 30

October

October 1 October 2 A team of international scientists, including researchers from France, has discovered that Crickets were the first to chirp 300 million years ago. Their findings were published in the journal Nature Communications on 2 October 2020. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 was jointly awarded to Gérard Mourou of France, Donna Strickland of Canada and Arthur Ashkin of the USA for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics. The fossilized jaw of a pint-size primate that lived about 35 million years ago in Asia has been unearthed in the Krabi coal mines in Thailand, according to a study published by French scientists on 2 October 2013 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The new species, dubbed Krabia minuta, after the Krabi coal mines where it was found, was an ancient, extinct member of a group of primates called anthropoids, which includes the ancestors to all monkeys and apes, including humans. October 3 French doctors have developed a brain-controlled exoskeleton that helped a paralysed man learn to walk again, in a technological breakthrough. Their research was published on 3 October 2019 in The Lancet Neurology. French rally drive in the World Rally Championship Sebastien Ogier clinched his first world rally title on 3 October 2013, succeeding compatriot Sebastien Loeb who won the last nine championships. French scientists have discovered that venom from one of the world’s deadliest snakes, Black Mamba, can be used to make a painkiller as powerful as morphine, but without most of the side-effects. Their findings, tested on mice, were reported in the journal Nature on 3 October 2012. October 4 October 5 French chemist Jean-Pierre Sauvage jointly won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the design and synthesis of molecular machines. Yves Chauvin from Institut Français du Pétrole, Rueil-Malmaison, France, jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2005 for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis. October 6 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2008 was awarded, with one half, jointly to French virologists Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). October 7 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 was jointly awarded to Henri B. Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. French writer Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory. October 8 Alain Aspect of France, John F. Clauser of the USA and Anton Zeilinger of Austria were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science. France's Caroline Garcia beat new world number one Simona Halep 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to win the China Open women’s tennis tittle on 8 October 2017. October 9 French author Patrick Modiano won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012 was awarded jointly to French physicist Serge Haroche and American physicist David J. Wineland for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems. The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2008 was awarded to the French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio as an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization. October 10 French photographer Laurent Ballesta won the Grand Title at the 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year with an ethereal picture of a shimmering golden horseshoe crab. October 11 French and American astronomers have discovered a planet twice the size of Earth made largely out of diamond. The planet is 40 light years, or 230 trillion miles, away from Earth and was reported on 11 October 2012 ahead of the official research publication in the US journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. October 12 French author Maryse Condé was announced as the winner of the New Academy prize in literature on 12 October 2018 for all of her published novels. October 13 The United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted to elect France as a new Human Rights Council (HRC) member for three years on 13 October 2020. France's first floating offshore wind turbine with a capacity of 2 MW was inaugurated on 13 October 2017 at the Saint Nazaire port. Former French minister of culture Audrey Azoulay was elected as the UNESCO Director-General on 13 October 2017. French professor of economics Jean Tirole won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his analysis of market power and regulation. October 14 French tennis player Hugo Gaston won men’s singles gold beating Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta 6-4, 7-5 in the final at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games. France and South Africa on 14 October 2014 signed an Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement on Nuclear Cooperation. This agreement initiates the preparatory phase for the possible deployment of French nuclear technology in South Africa. October 15 Médecins Sans Frontières, an independent, neutral and impartial emergency aid organization founded in France in 1971, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1999 in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents. October 16 October 17 Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema won the men's Ballon d'Or on 17 October 2022, becoming the first Frenchman to claim the most prestigious individual prize in football since Zinédine Zidane almost a quarter of a century ago. French, Swiss and Moroccan researchers have discovered the remains of now-extinct creatures called trilobites that were almost perfectly preserved in the Moroccan desert near the town of Zagora, as reported in the journal Scientific Reports on 17 October 2019. October 18 The most powerful floating solar PV plant in Europe was inaugurated at Piolenc in southern France on 18 October 2019, the O’MEGA1 plant is a 17 megawatt (MW) solar plant, marking another milestone in the development of solar energy. France claimed their first ever Men's European Championship volleyball title with a straight sets (25-19, 29-27, 29-27) win over Slovenia in Sofia on 18 October 2015. The 1988 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Professor Maurice Allais from France for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources. October 19 French model Denise Perrier was crowned Miss World 1953 on October 19, 1953. Perrier won the title at the age of 18. She was the third ever Miss World. October 20 October 21 A team of French and International researchers have discovered a 193-million-year old nesting ground in Patagonia, Argentina with more than 100 dinosaur eggs from a dinosaur called Mussaurus offers evidence they lived in herds. The nesting ground is 193 million years old, making it the earliest evidence of dinosaur herds, as revealed in the journal Nature on 21 October 2021. October 22 Scientists from France and their international colleagues have unearthed fossils in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert that have allowed them for the first time to build a complete picture of one of the most unique dinosaurs, Deinocheirus mirificus. Their study was published on 22 October 2014 in the journal Nature. October 23 France on 23 October 2021 successfully launched a cutting-edge military communications satellite into orbit, designed to allow all of France's armed forces across the globe to communicate swiftly and securely. Zinedine Zidane of France won the Best FIFA Men’s Coach award on 23 October 2017. October 24 France was admitted as a member of the United Nations (UN) on 24 October 1945. October 25 France’s Ugo Humbert produced a masterful performance to beat Australian eighth seed Alex de Minaur 6-1 7-6(4) and win his second ATP Tour tennis title at the European Open in Antwerp on 24 October 2020. October 26 October 27 Frenchman Marc Kopp with multiple sclerosis skydived over Mount Everest on 27 October 2013, marking a milestone as the first disabled person to do so. October 28 October 29 Prehistoric sharks thought to have perished during the most severe and mass extinction in the earth's history some 250 million years ago, in fact lived another 120 million years, reported by researchers from France and Switzerland on 29 October 2013 in the journal Nature Communications. The fish may have survived the calamity by hiding away in the deep seas. October 30 October 31

November

November 1 France was crowned as the World’s Most Positive Country for the first time ever in 2019. France ranked as the sixth most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2018. France ranked as the fifth most positive country at the World’s Most Positive Countries 2017. France ranked ninth in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries for 2014. France ranked eighth in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries 2012. An international team of astronomers, that also includes researchers from France, detected what appears to be light from the first stars in the universe, indicating that stars were present at least as early as 500 million years after the “big bang”. The findings were published on 1 November 2012 in the journal Science. France ranked seventh in the list of the World’s Most Positive Countries 2011 revealed by Daily Positive (D+) published on November 1, 2011. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a French politician, began as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s tenth Managing Director on November 1, 2007. IMF is an organization of over 180 member countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. November 2 French scientists and their international colleagues have discovered a passenger plane-sized hidden chamber in Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza, in what would be the first such discovery in the structure since the 19th century. Their discovery was detailed in Nature on 2 November 2017. November 3 November 4 French footballer Desire Doue won the 2025 Golden Boy award for best under-21 male footballer of the year in Europe. The 20-year-old Paris Saint-Germain player is the 23rd recipient of Italian newspaper Tuttosport’s title. November 5 November 6 November 7 France's Caroline Garcia put on a serving masterclass to claim the biggest tennis title of her career on 7 November 2022 by defeating Aryna Sabalenka 7-6(4) 6-4 to win the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. Archaeologists in France have unearthed a rather hairy fossil — a nearly complete skeleton of a mammoth, as reported on 7 November 2012. The bones — thought to belong to a creature that roamed the earth between 200,000 and 50,000 years ago — were discovered by accident during the excavation of an ancient Roman site 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Paris. November 8 French multinational integrated oil and gas company Total on 8 November 2016 secured a contract to develop the second phase of Iran's South Pars gas field. November 9 November 10 France claimed their first Fed Cup tennis title in 16 years on 10 November 2019 with a 3-2 win against Australia in Perth. November 11 November 12 The United Nations General Assembly on 12 November 2013 elected France to serve on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for a period of three years beginning on 1 January 2014. November 13 November 14 French and Canadian Astronomers have spotted a Rogue Planet - wandering the cosmos without a star to orbit - 100 light-years away from earth. The planet, dubbed CFBDSIR2149-0403, is outlined in a paper published on 14 November 2012 in Astronomy and Astrophysics. November 15 France's Kevin Aymoz snatched the men's title at Skate America on 15 November 2025, winning his first grand prix title, in Lake Placid, New York. Archaeologists in France unearthed a woman's deformed and pointy shaped skull in a necropolis, which dates to around 1,650 years ago, as reported on 15 November 2013. November 16 France secured the lead position at the Climate Change Performance Index published on 16 November 2016 by Climate Action Network Europe and Germanwatch. The index ranked 58 countries according to their emissions level, the trend in emissions, the deployment of renewable energy, the energy intensity of the economy and climate policies. November 17 French astronaut Thomas Pesquet blasted into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on 17 November 2016 for a for six-month mission in the International Space Station. November 18 November 19 November 20 November 21 November 22 French Netflix show, Call My Agent (Dix pour cent), won the prestigious 2021 International Emmy award for best comedy. November 23 November 24 French and Egyptian archaeologists on 24 November 2018 unveiled a new ancient tomb, sarcophagi and funerary artifacts discovered in the Theban necropolis of Al-Assasif in the southern city of Luxor in Egypt. November 25 French supernatural thriller series The Returned was awarded the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series on 25 November 2013. November 26 France became the third country to enter the space, with the launch of a Diamant rocket carrying a satellite into orbit from the Hammaguir test site, Algeria on November 26, 1965. November 27 November 28 November 29 November 30 Lucie Pinson of France was named as one of the winners of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize for successfully pursuing France’s three largest banks to eliminate financing for new coal projects and coal companies.

December

December 1 December 2 December 3 An international team of researchers, including scientists from France, has discovered engravings on a shell that dates to between 540,000 and 430,000 years ago. Their findings, reported in the journal Nature on 3 December 2014, provided new insights into the evolution of human behavior. December 4 December 5 December 6 A new species of semi-aquatic dinosaurs, nicknamed "Halszka" for Halszkaraptor escuilliei, that could kill prey on land and in water has been discovered by French and a team of international scientists. Scientists made the discovery after studying a fossil which was found at Ukhaa Tolgod in southern Mongolia, as revealed in the journal Nature on 6 December 2017. French and Italian archaeologists have found the remains of a grain port that played a critical role in the rise of ancient Rome, France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) revealed on 6 December 2012. On 6 December 2009 archaeologists, led by Bruno Boulestin from the University of Bordeaux in France, revealed they discovered evidence of mass cannibalism in Europe during the Neolithic period at a 7,000 year old burial site in Germany. December 7 December 8 A team of international and French scientists has discovered a planet 10 times as massive as Jupiter, named b Centauri (AB)b or b Centauri b, orbiting a pair of stars in another solar system, as published on 8 December 2021 in the journal Nature. Olympic medallist and women's Six Nations champion Jessy Tremouliere of France was named women’s player of the decade by World Rugby on 8 December 2020. December 9 In a world first, French made dengue vaccine Dengvaxia was approved for use in Mexico on 9 December 2015. December 10 French photographer Greg LeCoeur won the Grand Prize at the 2016 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest for his underwater photo of sardine migration on Wild Coast of South Africa. The Nobel Peace Prize 1920 was awarded to Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois from France for the establishment of the International Alliance while serving as the President of the Council of the League of Nations - the precursor to the United Nations. French diplomat Paul Henri d'Estournelles de Constant jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1909 for his notable success in international arbitration. Louis Renault from France jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1907 for his active participation to solve international conflicts and the problems of international law. The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Frédéric Passy (along with Swiss Jean Henry Dunant) on December 10, 1901. Frédéric Passy was a French Economist who was the founder and president of the first French Peace Society. Passy's writings and speeches advocating peace are widely recognized. December 11 December 12 December 13 December 14 The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, which towers 1,025 feet over the Tarn Valley near Millau, France was officially inaugurated on 14 December 2004. December 15 A high-speed bullet train service linking France and Spain was inaugurated on 15 December 2013 that is expected to cut the the regular 12-hour journey between Barcelona and Paris to approximately 6 hours. On December 15, 2010 scientists revealed the mummified remains of the head of King Henri IV of France have been discovered in the garage of a French retiree. December 16 French and Paris St-Germain forward Ousmane Dembele was named FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year at the 2025 Fifa Best awards in Qatar. December 17 December 18 The most complete sequence to date of the Neanderthal genome, using DNA extracted from a woman’s toe bone found in Denisova Cave, Siberia that dates back 50,000 years, reveals a long history of interbreeding among at least four different types of early humans living in Europe and Asia at that time, according to a study published on 18 December 2013 by researchers from France and their international colleagues. December 19 Scientists from France, Russia and the USA have created a map of the distribution of water vapor in Mars’ atmosphere. Their research, reported on 19 December 2014, includes observations of seasonal variations in atmospheric concentrations using data collected over ten years by the Russian-French SPICAM spectrometer aboard the Mars Express orbiter. December 20 December 21 After detailed study of the meteorite found in California in April 2012, an international team of scientists, including researchers from France, reports it contains some of the oldest material in the Solar System. The research findings were published in the journal Science on 21 December 2012. December 22 A team of international and French scientists have discovered at least 70 new rogue planets in our galaxy, it marks the largest such group ever spotted roaming the Milky Way, as revealed in the journal Nature Astronomy on 22 December 2021. France on 22 December 2016 inaugurated the world's first solar panel road providing enough energy to power the street lights of the small Normandy town of Tourouvre. Scientists from France and their international colleagues have discovered fossils of 154 million-year-old limusaurus dinosaurs that had tiny, sharp teeth as a hatchling that it gradually lost as it grew up, according to their research published in the journal Current Biology on 22 December 2016. December 23 December 24 December 25 December 26 December 27 December 28 December 29 December 30 December 31

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