Georges Claude (24 September 187023 May 1960) was a French engineer and inventor. He is noted for his early work on the industrial liquefaction of air, for the invention and commercialization of
neon lighting, and for a large experiment on generating energy by pumping cold seawater up from the depths. He has been considered by some to be "the
Edison of France". Claude was an active
collaborator with the
German occupiers of France during the Second World War, for which he was imprisoned in 1945 and stripped of his honors.