Jacques Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist, widely regarded as "the most controversial psychoanalyst since Freud." He developed an interest in Sigmund Freud's theories in his early thirties and played a key role in introducing them to France. Initially recognized for his theory of the mirror stage, which he presented at the Sixteenth Congress of the International Psychoanalytical Association, Lacan gained wider fame in the early 1950s, through his private seminars. However, his career was marked by controversy. His concept of the variable-length session provoked the ire of traditional analysts, leading to his departure from the Société psychanalytique de Paris and later from the Société Française de Psychanalyse. Despite these challenges, he continued his work and achieved significant acclaim at the age of 65 with the publication of his lectures and essays in Écrits. By then, he had founded his own school, the École Freudienne de Paris. Lacan emphasized the primacy of language in psychoanalysis and sought to integrate linguistic studies, as well as mathematics and logic, into its theoretical framework. By the 1970s, he had become a dominant cultural figure in France, with his influence extending far beyond psychoanalysis.