was a French philosopher, historian, and mystic. After obtaining her baccalauréat with honours at age 15, she studied Philosophy for four years before going to the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in 1928. She finished her studies there in 1931 and went on to teach at various secondary schools, while at the same time writing numerous articles for socialist and communist newspapers. Weil also worked as a factory worker for Renault in order to find out what it was like to be a member of the working class. In the Spanish Civil War, she was active on the Republican front until her health forced her to withdraw. Born into a free-thinking Jewish family, she was drawn to Roman Catholicism in 1940. Simone Weil died young, of a combination of tuberculosis and anorexia. Almost all of her works were published posthumously, such as La Pesanteur et la Grace (1947), Attente de Dieu (1950) en Oppression et Liberté (1955). [041209]