Eiffel Tower to honour 72 women scholars

September 05, 2025 / 8:42 PM

Sharjah24 - AFP: Gustave Eiffel, the designer of France's iconic monument, originally inscribed the names of 72 male scholars on the tower's base in golden letters. Over 130 years later, Paris authorities are working to address this oversight by adding the names of 72 distinguished women.

Aiming for recognition

"The aim is to highlight the historical contribution of women to science and technology," stated an expert commission responsible for the project, which presented its findings to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. This initiative seeks to remedy the "Matilda effect," a term coined by historian Margaret Rossiter in 1993, which describes the systematic suppression of women's contributions to scientific progress.

Commission leadership

The commission is chaired by astrophysicist Isabelle Vauglin, vice-president of the Femmes & Sciences association, alongside Jean-Francois Martins, head of the tower's operating company.

Criteria for selection

When the Eiffel Tower was constructed in 1889, the names of notable male scientists—including artist and chemist Louis Daguerre and physicist Andre-Marie Ampere—were inscribed in golden capital letters. The commission aims to propose a list of women's names to Mayor Hidalgo by the end of the year, focusing on female experts who lived from 1789 to the present and are now deceased, predominantly of French nationality.

Ensuring gender parity

To ensure gender parity, the commission proposes placing the women's names above the existing frieze of men's names. The Eiffel Tower, owned by the city of Paris, attracts around seven million visitors annually, with a significant portion coming from abroad.

A Broader discussion on women's contributions

Recently, Education Minister Elisabeth Borne suggested that France should initiate a debate about inscriptions above the Pantheon in Paris to better reflect the contributions of women laid to rest there.