When the names of scientists were engraved on the facade of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, there were no women among them. This gap has now been filled. Who will be honored? Here are the names of some of these 72 outstanding women.
Alice Sollier (1861-1942) was the first black French woman with a doctorate in medicine, Forbes writes. After graduating from the University of Paris, she ran a private clinic for the treatment of nervous disorders and co-managed a sanitarium with her husband for patients with drug addiction and mental health problems. In honor of Solier in 2025 renamed a street in her native Compiègne.
Marguerite Perey (1909-1975) discovered the chemical element francium while working with Marie Curie at the Radium Institute. Despite her lack of formal education, her discoveries were recognized by the Paris Academy of Sciences and the French Academy of Sciences, and Perey herself was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize.
Helen Sparrow (1891-1970) developed the typhoid vaccine and conducted mass vaccinations in Poland, Guatemala, and Mexico. Her work at the Institut Pasteur was a significant contribution to the fight against infectious diseases.
Toshiko Yuasa (1909-1980) was Japan’s first female physicist. She studied beta decay in France and Germany, creating a new type of spectrometer, and later promoted scientific exchange between Japan and France.
Dorothea Klumpke (1861-1942) participated in the international Map of the Sky project, systematizing photographic plates and producing a detailed map of the visible sky. She earned her doctorate in astronomy and published Isaac Roberts’ Atlas of 52 Regions.
Marianne Grunberg-Manago (1921-2013) discovered the enzyme poly-nucleotide phosphorylase, which was the key to decoding RNA and DNA. In 1995, she became the first woman president of the French Academy of Sciences.
The addition of these names would be a symbolic recognition of the role of women in science, from medicine to physics to astronomy, and correct a historical injustice at one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks.
