21/08/2026
For 137 years, every name in gold letters on the Eiffel Tower has belonged to a man.
There are 72 of them, engraved around the first floor in capital letters 2 feet (60 centimeters) tall so they could be read from the ground. Gustave Eiffel chose them himself in 1889, honoring French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians who had distinguished themselves since 1789. The rules were strict. French only. Dead only, with one exception. And no name longer than 12 letters, which is why towering figures like Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire never made the cut.
Not one woman was ever considered.
That is finally changing. On January 26, 2026, the anniversary of the tower's groundbreaking, the association Femmes et Sciences (Women and Science) presented Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo with a list of 72 women scientists chosen to join the frieze. Their names will be engraved directly above the men's, in the same gold lettering, the same size, the same style. The list spans 250 years of French science, from 18th century obstetrician Angélique du Coudray to physicist Marie Curie to mathematician Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat.
The list still needs sign off from three French scientific academies before anyone touches the tower. If it clears that final step, the engraving is planned for 2027.
