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| style="padding: 6px; padding-top: 2px" |The location of the names on the tower

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On the Eiffel Tower, 72 names of French male scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are engraved in recognition of their contributions. Gustave Eiffel chose this "invocation of science" because of his concern over the protests against the tower, and chose names of those who had distinguished themselves since 1789. The engravings are found on the sides of the tower under the first balcony, in letters about tall, and were originally painted in gold. The engraving was painted over at the beginning of the 20th century and restored in 1986–87 by Société Nouvelle d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, the company that the city of Paris contracts to operate the Tower. The repainting of 2010–11 restored the letters to their original gold colour. There are also names of the engineers who helped build the Tower and design its architecture on a plaque on the top of the Tower, where a laboratory was built as well.

It has been proposed to add the names of 72 leading women to the tower and a list for agreement with the Mayor of Paris was presented in 2026.

List

Location

The list is split in four parts (one for each side of the tower). The sides have been named after the parts of Paris that each side faces:

  • The North-East side (also known as La Bourdonnais side)
  • The South-East side (also known as the Military School side)
  • The South-West side (also known as the Grenelle side)
  • The North West side (also known as the Trocadéro side)

Names

In the table below are all the names on the four sides.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Name appearing !! Full name !! Occupation !! Location !! Portrait

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|SEGUIN||Marc Seguin||engineer||||x70px

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|LALANDE||Jérôme Lalande||astronomer||||x70px

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|TRESCA||Henri Tresca||engineer and mechanic||||x70px

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|PONCELET||Jean-Victor Poncelet||geometer||||x70px

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|BRESSE||Jacques Antoine Charles Bresse||civil engineer and hydraulic engineer||||x70px

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|LAGRANGE||Joseph-Louis Lagrange||mathematician||||x70px

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|BELANGER||Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Joseph Bélanger||mathematician and hydraulic engineer||||x70px

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|CUVIER||Georges Cuvier||naturalist||||x70px

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|LAPLACE||Pierre-Simon Laplace||mathematician and astronomer||||x70px

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|DULONG||Pierre Louis Dulong||physicist and chemist||||x70px

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|CHASLES||Michel Chasles||geometer||||x70px

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|LAVOISIER||Antoine Lavoisier||chemist||||x70px

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|AMPERE||André-Marie Ampère||mathematician and physicist||||x70px

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|CHEVREUL||Michel Eugène Chevreul||chemist||||x70px

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|FLACHAT||Eugène Flachat||civil engineer||||x70px

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|NAVIER||Claude-Louis Marie Henri Navier||mathematician||||x70px

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|LEGENDRE||Adrien-Marie Legendre||mathematician||||x70px

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|CHAPTAL||Jean-Antoine Chaptal||agronomist and chemist||||x70px

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|JAMIN||Jules Jamin||physicist||||x70px

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|GAY-LUSSAC||Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac||chemist||||x70px

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|FIZEAU||Hippolyte Fizeau||physicist||||x70px

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|SCHNEIDER||Eugène Schneider||industrialist||||x70px

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|LE CHATELIER||Louis Le Chatelier<!---not Henri Louis le Chatelier-->||engineer||||x70px

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|BERTHIER||Pierre Berthier||mineralogist||||x70px

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|BARRAL||Jean-Augustin Barral||agronomist, chemist, physicist||||x70px

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|DE DION||Henri de Dion||engineer||||x70px

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|GOUIN||Ernest Goüin||engineer and industrialist||||x70px

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|JOUSSELIN||Louis Didier Jousselin||engineer||||x70px

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|BROCA||Paul Broca||physician and anthropologist||||x70px

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|BECQUEREL||Antoine César Becquerel||physicist||||x70px

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|CORIOLIS||Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis||engineer and scientist||||x70px

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|CAIL||Jean-François Cail||industrialist||||x70px

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|TRIGER||Jacques Triger||engineer||||x70px

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|GIFFARD||Henri Giffard||engineer||||x70px

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|PERRIER||François Perrier||geographer and mathematician||||x70px

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|STURM||Jacques Charles François Sturm||mathematician||||x70px

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|CAUCHY||Augustin-Louis Cauchy||mathematician||||x70px

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|BELGRAND||Eugène Belgrand||engineer||||x70px

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|REGNAULT||Henri Victor Regnault||chemist and physicist||||x70px

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|FRESNEL||Augustin-Jean Fresnel||civil engineer and physicist||||x70px

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|DE PRONY||Gaspard de Prony||engineer||||x70px

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|VICAT||Louis Vicat||engineer||||x70px

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|EBELMEN||Jacques-Joseph Ebelmen||chemist||||x70px

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|COULOMB||Charles-Augustin de Coulomb||physicist||||x70px

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|POINSOT||Louis Poinsot||mathematician||||x70px

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|FOUCAULT||Léon Foucault||physicist||||x70px

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|DELAUNAY||Charles-Eugène Delaunay||astronomer||||x70px

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|MORIN||Arthur Morin||mathematician and physicist||||x70px

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|HAUY||René Just Haüy||mineralogist||||x70px

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|COMBES||Charles Combes||engineer and metallurgist||||x70px

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|THENARD||Louis Jacques Thénard||chemist||||x70px

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|ARAGO||François Arago||astronomer and physicist||||x70px

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|POISSON||Siméon Denis Poisson||mathematician and physicist||||x70px

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|MONGE||Gaspard Monge||geometer||||x70px

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|PETIET||Jules Petiet||engineer||||x70px

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|DAGUERRE||Louis Daguerre||artist and chemist||||x70px

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|WURTZ||Charles-Adolphe Wurtz||chemist||||x70px

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|LE VERRIER||Urbain Le Verrier||astronomer||||x70px

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|PERDONNET||Albert Auguste Perdonnet||engineer||||x70px

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|DELAMBRE||Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre||astronomer||||x70px

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|MALUS||Étienne-Louis Malus||physicist||||x70px

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|BREGUET||Louis Breguet||physicist and inventor||||x70px

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|POLONCEAU||Camille Polonceau||engineer||||x70px

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|DUMAS||Jean-Baptiste Dumas||chemist||||x70px

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|CLAPEYRON||Émile Clapeyron||engineer and physicist||||x70px

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|BORDA||Jean-Charles de Borda||mathematician||||x70px

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|FOURIER||Joseph Fourier||mathematician||||x70px

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|BICHAT||Marie François Xavier Bichat||anatomist and physiologist||||x70px

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|SAUVAGE||François Clément Sauvage||engineer and geologist||||x70px

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|PELOUZE||Théophile-Jules Pelouze||chemist||||x70px

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|CARNOT||Lazare Carnot||mathematician||||x70px

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|LAME||Gabriel Lamé||mathematician||||x70px

|}

Criticism

Women

The list contains no women. The list has been criticized for excluding the name of Sophie Germain, a noted French mathematician whose work on the theory of elasticity was used in the construction of the tower itself. In 1913, John Augustine Zahm suggested that Germain was excluded because she was a woman.

In 2025, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo named a commission of experts to consider a project for inscribing the names of women scientists on the Tower. The commission's report was positive and advocated inscribing the names of 72 female scientists adjacent to those of the 72 male scientists, to reflect full equality. The Association Femmes & Sciences was tasked with preparing a list of women scientists to be commemorated. In January 2026, the Association unveiled a proposed list of late 72 women scientists from 1789 to the present. The list is awaiting acceptance by the mayor, the Académie des Sciences, the Académie des Technologies and the Académie nationale de médecine.

Hydraulic engineers and scholars

Eiffel acknowledged most of the leading French scientists in the field of hydraulic engineering; fourteen of them are listed on the Eiffel Tower. Among those missing are Henri Philibert Gaspard Darcy, whose work did not come into wide use until the 20th century, Antoine Chézy and Joseph Valentin Boussinesq, who was early in his career at the time. The renowned mathematician Évariste Galois is also absent from the list, as are Joseph Liouville and Charles Hermite, two other famous French mathmaticians.

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Reprinted as
  • Paris streets named for the 72 scientists