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The Eiffel Tower is going to feature these 72 women scientists on its famous frieze

undefined undefined 27 janvier 2026 undefined 20h00

The Editor

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Until now, the Eiffel Tower only celebrated male scientists. This historical anomaly is soon to be corrected, as on Monday, January 26, Anne Hidalgo unveiled the names of 72 women scientists who will finally join the golden frieze of the Iron Lady. It’s a powerful gesture to address over a century of invisibility.

An injustice that has lasted for 136 years is finally being set right. Since its inauguration in 1889, the Eiffel Tower proudly displays the names of 72 scientists… all of them men. Ampère, Laplace, Arago: major figures, indeed, but no women in sight. This Monday, January 26, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo officially unveiled the list of 72 women scientists set to join the frieze on the first floor of the monument.

This project, launched in 2021 and approved in 2024, aims to correct what the City calls the “willful invisibility” of women in the history of science. The presentation took place in the presence of esteemed figures from the academic world, including Françoise Combes, president of the Academy of Sciences, and several presidents of major scientific institutions, alongside l&rsqu...the Femmes & Sciences association. 

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Famous pioneers… and others to rediscover

Among the names revealed, some are universally known. Marie Curie, a double Nobel Prize winner, will be featured alongside her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie. Rosalind Franklin, whose work has contributed greatly…;Determining the structure of DNA, but long credited to her male colleagues, will also be honored. The mathematician Sophie Germain, who was forced to publish under a male pseudonym, and Marthe Gautier, co-discoverer of Down syndrome, are also part of this selection.

Other figures, less known to the general public, remind us of the vast contributions of women to science: Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by disguising herself as a man, Madeleine Brès, the first female doctor in France, or Anita Conti, a pioneer of oceanography. Mathematicians, biologists, physicists, surgeons… these 72 women embody several centuries of research that have been too long overlooked. 


A Golden Frieze to Inspire Future Generations

The names will be inscribed in golden capital letters, in raised lettering 60 centimeters high, on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, just above the existing male frieze. This deliberate aesthetic choice aims to create a perfect symbolic parity. Initially planned for the second floor and limited to 40 names, the frieze will ultimately feature 72 women, echoing the 72 men chosen by Gustave Eiffel.

The selection was based on specific criteria: scientists who lived between the French Revolution and today, mostly French or connected to France, and from STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Led by a scientific committee including Women & Sciences, CNRS, Inserm, and Inria, the project also aims to fight for equality.

against the « Matilda effect », this phenomenon that erases women from scientific narratives.

« If Gustave Eiffel were building the tower today, he would have inscribed the names of women scientists », says Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, the great-great-great-grandson of Gustave Eiffel. The work should be completed by 2027. A symbolic date to finally recognize women where they were least expected. : at the heart of France's most famous monument.