\u00c9cole Centrale Paris alumni

René Lorin (24 March 1877 – 16 January 1933) was a French aerospace engineer and inventor of the ramjet.In 1908 Lorin patented, FR390256, the first subsonic ramjet design. He published the principles of a ramjet in articles in the journal L'Aérophile from 1908 to 1913, expressing the idea that the exhaust from internal combustion engines could be directed into nozzles to create jet propulsion. He could not test this invention since there was no way at the time for an aircraft to go fast enough for a ramjet to function properly.When René Leduc applied for a patent on a ramjet design in 1933, FR705648, he discovered Lorin's publications and tried to contact him, only to learn that he had recently died. Leduc thereafter paid homage to Lorin's work.René Lorin is a graduate of the École Centrale Paris.

Stéphane Bancel (born July 20, 1972) is a French business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of the American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna, known for its COVID-19 vaccine. Before joining Moderna, Bancel was the CEO of French diagnostics company BioMérieux. Bancel is a partner at Flagship Pioneering, and has served on the boards of Indigo Agriculture, Boston's Museum of Science, and Qiagen. As of May 2023, his net worth was estimated at US$4.1 billion, owning about 8% of Moderna.

Georges Leclanché (9 October 1839 – 14 September 1882) was a French electrical engineer chiefly remembered for his invention of the Leclanché cell, one of the first modern electrical batteries and the forerunner of the modern dry cell battery.

Alfred Jules Belpaire (25 September 1820 – 27 January 1893) was a Belgian locomotive engineer who invented the square-topped Belpaire firebox in 1864.
Belpaire was born in Ostend, and first studied at the Athenaeum School in Antwerp. He then became a student at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris, France from 1837 to 1840 where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering.
Belpaire was then employed at the Belgian State Railways, where he worked as a mechanical engineer for more than 50 years. He was first director of the railway workshops at Mechelen and then from 1850 put in charge of all materials and based in Brussels. He first developed a firebox to burn poor quality coals and then around 1860 generalised his invention into a robust thermally efficient design which bears his name. His firebox was used in locomotives in his native Belgium and also then extensively in Britain, North America and around the world. The Belpaire firebox had an improved transfer of heat and steam production due to its greater surface area at the top. While attaching it to a boiler was more difficult due to its oblong shape, it had simpler interior bracing as an advantage.
Alfred Belpaire was one of the founders of the Congrès International des Chemins de Fer, of which he was president in 1891.He died in Schaerbeek, aged 72.

Denis Baupin (born 2 June 1962 in Cherbourg) is a French political figure. He was Deputy Mayor of the City of Paris, where, as an elected member of the city council, he represents Europe Écologie–The Greens.
He is now vice mayor responsible for the city's programs and initiatives in the areas of sustainable development, environment and climate change.
On 10 May 2016, he resigned as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly after being accused of sexual harassment by several female party members; he denies the allegations.

Édouard Michelin (August 13, 1963 – May 26, 2006) was managing partner and co-chief executive of the Michelin Group. He was the great-grandson of Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), a co-founder of the company.

André Jules Michelin (16 January 1853 – 4 April 1931) was a French industrialist who, with his brother Édouard (1859–1940), founded the Michelin Tyre Company (Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin) in 1888 in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand.
In 1900, André Michelin published the first Michelin Guide, the purpose of which was to promote tourism by car, thereby supporting his tyre manufacturing operation.
In 1886, 33-year-old André Michelin abandoned his career as a successful Parisian engineer to take over his grandfather's failing agricultural goods and farm equipment business. Established in 1832,"Michelin et Cie" suffered from neglect and was on the verge of insolvency following the founder's death. Michelin's grandfather had started the company that sold farm equipment and an odd assortment of vulcanized rubber products, such as belts, valves and pipes. As soon as André took the helm of the company, he recruited his younger brother Édouard to join him at the company. Édouard was named the company's managing director. While duly committed to the success of the business, neither brother had any prior experience selling goods or had the slightest idea where to even begin.
In 1889, a cyclist familiar with the Michelin Company approached Édouard with his flat tyre seeking assistance. Getting a flat tyre frequently meant cyclists were left stranded for hours. In the late 1880s, cycling was becoming a popular form of transportation and hobby due in large part to John Dunlop's 1888 patent for the inflatable bicycle tyre. Before Dunlop's invention, bicycle tyres were made out of solid rubber. The solid rubber tyres tended to provide little traction and made for a difficult and uncomfortable ride.
After the hapless cyclist approached the Michelin Company for assistance, Édouard took great interests in the new pneumatic tyres. The Michelins recognized that there would be a great demand for pneumatic tyres if only there was a way to more quickly make repairs. They reasoned that first the wheel must become detachable. Édouard conducted a series of experiments and developed a number of prototypes. In 1891, he was granted a patent for a detachable tire.

André and his brother Édouard were inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan in 2002.

Pierre-Georges Latécoère (French: [pjɛʁ ʒɔʁʒ latekɔɛʁ]; 1883–1943) was a pioneer of aeronautics. Born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, he studied in the École Centrale Paris and, during the First World War, started a business in aeronautics. He directed plants that made planes and opened the first airlines that operated from France to Africa and South America.
Pierre-Georges Latécoère was the founder of the aeronautical industry in Toulouse. As the son of the owner of a sawmill in Bagnères-de-Bigorre in the Pyrenees, he took an early interest in technology. In 1903, after an outstanding secondary school career he began his degree at the Parisian Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. On returning to the Pyrenees he modernized his father's firm, specializing in the manufacture of railway wagons. Thus, during the First World War, the profits from government contracts allowed him to set up a large, modern factory in the Toulouse suburb of Montaudran. Before doing so, he had also produced a rush order of 600 Salmson aircraft, which the army urgently needed. Having become an aeronautical enthusiast, he decided to create the company Société des lignes Latécoère (later known as Aéropostale), carrying mail from France to Morocco, Senegal and South America - the first aircraft being flown by such well-known pilots as Mermoz and Saint-Exupéry. Finally, he started manufacturing aircraft in his own name, and notably the great seaplanes such as the Latécoère 631.
The Latécoère company still exists in 2024.

Jean Fourastié (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ fuʁastje]; 15 April 1907 in Saint-Benin-d'Azy, Nièvre - 25 July 1990 in Douelle, Lot) was a French civil servant, economist, professor and public intellectual. He coined the expression Trente Glorieuses ("the glorious thirty [years]") to describe the period of prosperity that France experienced from the end of World War II until the 1973 oil crisis.

Louis François René Panhard (27 May 1841 – 16 July 1908) was a French engineer, merchant and a pioneer of the automobile industry in France.
Born in Paris, he studied engineering at the Collège Sainte-Barbe and then graduated from École Centrale Paris in 1864. He was then employed by Jean-Louis Périn in a firm that produced wood-working machines. It was there that Panhard met Émile Levassor. In 1878, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
In 1889 after the death of Jean-Louis Perin, Panhard partnered with Levassor and Edouard Sarazin (and his widow Louise) to enlarge Avenue d'Ivry in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, develop the French engine manufacturing licenses for Gottlieb Daimler internal combustion engine and found the Panhard & Levassor car company. The company produced its first automobile in 1890.
In 1891, Panhard and Levassor designed and produced the first Daimler car engine, the twin V. Panhard also participated in and won many automobile races including the Paris-Rouen, 1894, the first major motor race in the world, Paris-Bordeaux-Paris in 1895 and the Tour de France Automobile of 1899. Panhard cars dominated racing everywhere until 1900.
In 1897, Levassor died as the result of a racing accident. Panhard then joined with his son, Hippolytus, to continue with developing and producing automobiles including, by 1900, a wide range of luxury cars.
In 1904, Panhard won a grand prize at the St. Louis Exposition.
Panhard was also a mayor of Thiais in the département Val-de-Marne. In Paris, a street in the 13th arrondissement is named after him.
René Panhard died in 1908 in La Bourboule and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.