Renault, Louis

   1) (1843-1918)

   jurist, Nobel laureate

   Born in Autun, Louis Renault, from 1883 to 1918, taught international law at the universities of Paris and Dijon. He served as a legal adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after 1890 and was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague (1899-1907). He was also the arbitrator in a number of important international cases. A pacifist, he shared the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize with the Italian pacifist Ernesto Teodoro Monetta.

   2) (1877-1944)

   industrialist

   Born in Paris, Louis Renault, after building his first automobile, founded the Renault Frères factory at Billancourt in 1899 with the help of his brothers Marcel (1882-1903, killed during the Paris-Madrid automobile race) and Fernand (18651909). Designed at first for the building of racing cars, this plant continued to expand over the years. in 1902, the first Renault engine was built, and in 1905, the company received an order for 250 taxis, for London as well as Paris. in 1911, Renault Frères became the first automobile company to produce airplane engines. During World War I, 110 Renault taxis shuttled French troops from Paris to the Battle of the Marne (1914), and in 1916, the company produced airplane engines in Russia. After the war, Louis Renault increasingly took the lead in French automobile production. During World War II, the Renault factories produced for the German wehr-macht and, after the war, Louis Renault was indicted and his factories nationalized (1945), becoming a state-owned company (Régie nationale des usines Renault), which was privatized in 1996.