Who are the great women of France? There are so many, it is hard to list them all! But let’s start with 15 who have played important roles in the history of la belle France.

There is so much to say that I’ve divided my list into three different articles, each discussing five women. This second article covers the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Some of the women you are probably familiar with, like the author George Sand. But did you know that the mathematician Emilie de Chatelet not only corrected some of Isaac Newton’s theories, but also developed an early form of financial derivatives? Or that Berthe Morisot was considered one of the finest of the Impressionist painters? And how about the salonnières, the women who ran the famous salons of the Enlightenment, sometimes called “the cradle of the French Revolution”?

Read all about these and other great women of France in My French Life!