François Cosserat (26 October 1852 – 22 March 1914) was a French engineer and mathematician known by his theories about deformable bodies written with his brother Eugène.

François Cosserat followed a typical career as civil engineer in the French East Railroad Company constructing and designing bridges, tunnels, etc.

[2] Besides his engineer career he worked with his junior brother, Eugène, in mechanics and elasticity, publishing papers and a book about it.

His most important work is his book, a joint work with his brother, Théorie des corps déformables (Theory of deformable bodies) (1909) in which laid the foundations of the mechanics of the generalized continua.

[4] Other remarkable joint works are: Théorie de l'élasticité (1896), Note sur la cinématique d'un milieu continu (1897), Note sur la dynamique du point et du corps invariable (1906) and Note sur la théorie de l'action euclidienne (1909).