Paul-Louis Simond (30 July 1858 – 3 March 1947) was a French physician, chief medical officer and biologist whose major contribution to science was his demonstration that the intermediates in the transmission of bubonic plague from rats to humans are the fleas Xenopsylla cheopis that dwell on infected rats.
Marius Ely Joseph Sestier (8 September 1861 – 8 November 1928) was a French cinematographer. Sestier was best known for his work in Australia, where he shot some of the country's first films.
Born in Sauzet, Drôme, Sestier was a pharmacist by profession. He was employed by early filmmakers the Lumière brothers (Auguste and Louis Lumière) to demonstrate their cinématographe abroad. In this capacity he travelled to India in June 1896, where he held a showcase of six short films made by the Lumière brothers at Watson's Hotel, Bombay on 7 July 1896; this was the first time moving pictures had been shown in India. Sestier also shot his own films while in Bombay, but the Lumière brothers rejected these for their catalogue as they were not satisfied with the quality as French customs had opened the package of undeveloped film.After Sestier completed his work in India he travelled to Sydney where he met with Australian photographer Henry Walter Barnett, who had darkroom facilities to develop films locally.In September 1896 Sestier, Barnett and Charles Westmacott opened Australia's first cinema, the Salon Lumière in Pitt Street, Sydney. Sestier and Barnett began making their own films, starting with a short film of passengers disembarking from the ship PS Brighton in Manly, which was the first film shot and screened in Australia. Sestier and Barnett made approximately 19 films together in Sydney and Melbourne, most notably a film of the 1896 Melbourne Cup horse race. The feature, which consisted of 10 one-minute films shown in chronological order (separate films were required due to limitations of cameras of the time), was premiered at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne on 19 November 1896, with Sestier giving an accompanying lecture. It was covered in the Australian press, including The Age and The Bulletin, and has been cited as Australia's first film production.After his business partnership with Barnett ended Sestier continued to tour Australia, demonstrating the cinématographe and showcasing films until May 1897. After returning to France he went on to become director of the Lumière Patents Company.
Wilfride Piollet (28 April 1943 – 20 January 2015) was a French ballerina and choreographer. She was born in Saint-Rambert-d'Albon. Her philosophy of dance and her research led to the publication of several books. Piollet joined the Paris Opera Ballet company in 1960. She gained the rank "coryphée" in 1963, "sujet" in 1964, soloist in 1966, and was promoted to principal dancer (étoile) in 1969. In 1973, Nouvelle lune c-à-d (Andy Degroat) was created for her retirement of the Paris Opera. Invited as a guest by Rudolf Nureyev, she danced at the Paris Opera until 1990, the year when Jean Guizerix left (Carte Blanche). At the Paris Opera and worldwide, she performed the classical, neo-classical and contemporary repertory, and from the 1980s, the Baroque and Renaissance ones. She ended her dance career in 2003 with a piece on Isadora Duncan's dances studied with Madeleine Lytton, and performed with Jean Guizerix.