CNU Library Blog

72 scientists' names engraved on the Eiffel Tower

Seventy two of France's notable scientists and engineers are remembered today on the Eiffel Tower. You can find the names engraved on the four sides of the tower near its four arches toward the ground. This list contains only men who contributed to science and invention between the French Revolution (1789) and the construction of the Eiffel Tower (1887). Here are screen shots from "La Tour Eiffel" (the site is linked below), where you can read whose name is engraved, their profession, and their location on the Eiffel Tower.  

Read more about these scientists: 

• Augustin-Jean Fresnel (Created the Fresnel lens, which creates huge, bright beams of light and is used in lighthouses -- has saved countless lives)
• Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (Discovered that water contains 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen molecules)
• Henry Louis Le Chatelier (Created Le Chatelier's principle of chemical equilibrium) 
• Xavier Bichat (Anatomist, considered the father of modern histology, proposed "tissue" as an important element in human anatomy)

Read more about the Eiffel Tower's 72 names: 

• Wikipedia: List of the 72 names on the Eiffel Tower.
• Tour Eiffel: Whose are the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower and why are they there (see the names up close!) 
• Harriss, Joseph (1975). The Tallest Tower: Eiffel And The Belle Epoque. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 100–101.
• La Tour Eiffel. "The 72 Scientists." (Webpage saved by The Wayback Machine.) 
• Mozen, H. J. (pseud.) (1913). Women in Science: With an Introductory Chapter on Women's Long Struggle for Things of the Mind. D. Appleton. pp. 154–157.