POP QUIZ !

There are some great statues in Paris (and Europe in general) - many featuring charming "hints" as to the depicted figure's claim to fame. Try to guess on the basis of my clues the identity of these three, artistically-rendered intellectual giants:

This Italian physician and physicist from Bologna is here depicted in the midst of the experiment which made him famous - that's a dead frog lying on the tablet in front of him. Hint: it involves electricity, was an important step in the evolution of neuroscience, and the report of his investigation is said to have inspired Mary Shelley.

I love the snide expression on the face of this French Enlightenment figure's statue - it's a perfect tribute to his legendary sharp-tongue and even sharper pen. You may have encountered his caustic, ironic style in the widely-read satire Candide. (Come on, that should be a total give-away)

This seventeenth century French fabulist is known for reinterpreting Aesop's fables, often with a moralizing political subtext that hinted boldly at the greedy or manipulative character of certain well-known courtesans from the court of King Louis XIV. The crow and the fox depicted with his statue allude to one of his better-known fables.

ANSWERS:

Luigi Galvani (statue in Bologna, Italy), Voltaire (Paris, 6th arrondissement), Jean de la Fontaine (Paris, 16th arrondissement)