French (language): Facts

Facts on topics related to French (language)

French physician Edme Castaing is thought to have been the first person to commit murder using morphine, 18 years after it was discovered?
Arishima Ikuma, Japanese novelist, published his new-style poems and short stories as a vehicle to introduce the works of the French impressionist painter Paul Cézanne to the Japanese public?
Ba Cut (meaning Short Third), a military commander of the Hoa Hao religious sect in Vietnam, was so named because he cut off his third finger to remind him to fight French colonialism?
Brutus de Villeroi was a French engineer who created the USS Alligator, the U.S. Navy's first submarine, in 1862?
historical demography, popularized by French historian Louis Henry, is the study of historical records leading to estimations of past human population?
Vera Kholodnaya, the first Russian silent film star, was rumoured to have been poisoned by the French Ambassador with whom she reportedly had an affair and who believed that she was a spy for the Bolsheviks?
in 1943, avant-garde French filmmaker Marcel L'Herbier founded a film school that was attended by Louis Malle, Jean-Jacques Annaud and Volker Schlöndorff?
the French chemist Louis Pasteur owned a vineyard in the Jura wine region that is still producing wine today?
the assassination of Bazin, a French labor recruiter in Vietnam, was the first attack by the revolutionary Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang?

"4 Mots sur un piano", which deals with the theme of a romantic relationship between two men and one woman, was the fifth best-selling single of 2007 in France?
11-year old Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein is regarded by Jacobites as third in line for the throne of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland?
18th century Franco-Portuguese industrialist Jácome Ratton (pictured) left a vivid account of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in his memoirs and was exiled to the Azores during the Napoleonic Wars?
18th century French artilleries were the most efficient at cannon operation (pictured), capable of firing 150 shots per cannon daily during siege?
18th century French salons were often led by those who were creating the Encyclopédie?
footballer Edward King was honored for heroism in the Philippines and tactical skill in France and later became Commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College?
Cambodia's Mongkol Borei District was part of Thailand until the French demanded it back in 1907?
Camille Le Mercier d'Erm and his colleagues formed the Breton Nationalist Party in 1911 to advocate the independence of Brittany from France?
Catherine II's Instruction to the Legislative Assembly was banned in pre-revolutionary 18th-century France as a "libertarian book"?
cinematographer Lawrence Sher first developed an interest in photography after his father convinced him to take a 35mm camera on a Teaneck High School-sponsored trip to France?