- Photography
- Cinema; and
- Hot air balloon
Science, engineering and economics
- Development of air travel - Clément Ader in 1890 invented the "Eole", widely regarded as the first flight of a fully functional manned air vehicle with steam as the propulsion source;
- Invention of the internal combustion engine, by Étienne Lenoir in 1859.
- Construction of the Suez Canal;
- The creation of metric system of length by Jean Picard during Louis XIV reign
Mathematics
- Invention of complex numbers (René Descartes).
Physics
- Founding the kinetic theory in its modern formulation (Albert Einstein
used and built upon work and conclusions from Sadi Carnot).
- Study of elasticity and acoustics (Joseph Louis Lagrange).
Medicine
- First modern successful treatment of Cholera (Pierre Oger – who also
introduced the rehydration strategy, an innovation for the 19th century; he
is generally accepted the "father of tropical medicine").
- Pioneering studies into anaesthetics and use of the curare arrow poisons
on surgery (Claude Bernard – generally accepted "father of modern
physiology – 1813–1878).
- Study of crystallography and optic properties on light; (Étienne-Louis
Malus).