Jean-Baptiste François Soleil (1798–1878) was a French optician and engineer.
In 1819, Soleil founded a company operating under his name at 23 Passage Vivienne in Paris, specialised in making optics instruments for such notable researchers as Augustin-Jean Fresnel, François Arago, Léon Foucault and Jacques Babinet.
In 1825 he moved business to 21, rue de l'Odéon.
[1] In 1849, the business was split between to divisions under his son Henri Soleil, and his son-in-law Jules Duboscq.
In 1852, the Soleil workshop was purchased by Louis Sautter, maker of Fresnel lesnes for lighthouses, who founded Sautter et Cie, later Sautter-Lemonnier et Cie, and eventually Sautter-Harlé.