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List of the 72 names on the Eiffel Tower

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The location of the names on the tower

On the Eiffel Tower, 72 names of French men (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 60 cm (24 in) 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.

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)
Petiet, Daguerre, Wurtz, Le Verrier, Perdonnet, Delambre, Malus, Breguet, Polonceau, Dumas, Clapeyron, Borda, Fourier, Bichat, Sauvage, Pelouze, Carnot, Lamé Cauchy, Belgrand, Regnault, Fresnel, De Prony, Vicat, Ebelmen, Coulomb, Poinsot, Foucault, Delaunay, Morin, Haüy, Combes, Thénard, Arago, Poisson, Monge
  • The South-West side (also known as the Grenelle side)
Jamin, Gay-Lussac, Fizeau, Schneider, Le Chatelier, Berthier, Barral, De Dion, Goüin, Jousselin, Broca, Becquerel, Coriolis, Cail, Triger, Giffard, Perrier, Sturm
  • The North West side (also known as the Trocadéro side)
Seguin, Lalande, Tresca, Poncelet, Bresse, Lagrange, Belanger, Cuvier, Laplace, Dulong, Chasles, Lavoisier, Ampère, Chevreul, Flachat, Navier, Legendre, Chaptal

Names

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

Name appearing Full name Occupation Location Portrait
SEGUIN Marc Seguin engineer NW01
LALANDE Jérôme Lalande astronomer NW02
TRESCA Henri Tresca engineer and mechanic NW03
PONCELET Jean-Victor Poncelet geometer NW04
BRESSE Jacques Antoine Charles Bresse civil engineer and hydraulic engineer NW05
LAGRANGE Joseph-Louis Lagrange mathematician NW06
BELANGER Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Joseph Bélanger mathematician and hydraulic engineer NW07
CUVIER Georges Cuvier naturalist NW08
LAPLACE Pierre-Simon Laplace mathematician and astronomer NW09
DULONG Pierre Louis Dulong physicist and chemist NW10
CHASLES Michel Chasles geometer NW11
LAVOISIER Antoine Lavoisier chemist NW12
AMPERE André-Marie Ampère mathematician and physicist NW13
CHEVREUL Michel Eugène Chevreul chemist NW14
FLACHAT Eugène Flachat civil engineer NW15
NAVIER Claude-Louis Marie Henri Navier mathematician NW16
LEGENDRE Adrien-Marie Legendre mathematician NW17
CHAPTAL Jean-Antoine Chaptal agronomist and chemist NW18
JAMIN Jules Jamin physicist SW01
GAY-LUSSAC Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac chemist SW02
FIZEAU Hippolyte Fizeau physicist SW03
SCHNEIDER Eugène Schneider industrialist SW04
LE CHATELIER Louis Le Chatelier engineer SW05
BERTHIER Pierre Berthier mineralogist SW06
BARRAL Jean-Augustin Barral agronomist, chemist, physicist SW07
DE DION Henri de Dion engineer SW08
GOUIN Ernest Goüin engineer and industrialist SW09
JOUSSELIN Louis Didier Jousselin engineer SW10
BROCA Paul Broca physician and anthropologist SW11
BECQUEREL Antoine César Becquerel physicist SW12
CORIOLIS Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis engineer and scientist SW13
CAIL Jean-François Cail industrialist SW14
TRIGER Jacques Triger engineer SW15
GIFFARD Henri Giffard engineer SW16
PERRIER François Perrier geographer and mathematician SW17
STURM Jacques Charles François Sturm mathematician SW18
CAUCHY Augustin-Louis Cauchy mathematician SE01
BELGRAND Eugène Belgrand engineer SE02
REGNAULT Henri Victor Regnault chemist and physicist SE03
FRESNEL Augustin-Jean Fresnel civil engineer and physicist SE04
DE PRONY Gaspard de Prony engineer SE05
VICAT Louis Vicat engineer SE06
EBELMEN Jacques-Joseph Ebelmen chemist SE07
COULOMB Charles-Augustin de Coulomb physicist SE08
POINSOT Louis Poinsot mathematician SE09
FOUCAULT Léon Foucault physicist SE10
DELAUNAY Charles-Eugène Delaunay astronomer SE11
MORIN Arthur Morin mathematician and physicist SE12
HAUY René Just Haüy mineralogist SE13
COMBES Charles Combes engineer and metallurgist SE14
THENARD Louis Jacques Thénard chemist SE15
ARAGO François Arago astronomer and physicist SE16
POISSON Siméon Denis Poisson mathematician and physicist SE17
MONGE Gaspard Monge geometer SE18
PETIET Jules Petiet engineer NE01
DAGUERRE Louis Daguerre artist and chemist NE02
WURTZ Charles-Adolphe Wurtz chemist NE03
LE VERRIER Urbain Le Verrier astronomer NE04
PERDONNET Albert Auguste Perdonnet engineer NE05
DELAMBRE Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre astronomer NE06
MALUS Étienne-Louis Malus physicist NE07
BREGUET Louis Breguet physicist and inventor NE08
POLONCEAU Camille Polonceau engineer NE09
DUMAS Jean-Baptiste Dumas chemist NE10
CLAPEYRON Émile Clapeyron engineer and physicist NE11
BORDA Jean-Charles de Borda mathematician NE12
FOURIER Joseph Fourier mathematician NE13
BICHAT Marie François Xavier Bichat anatomist and physiologist NE14
SAUVAGE François Clément Sauvage engineer and geologist NE15
PELOUZE Théophile-Jules Pelouze chemist NE16
CARNOT Lazare Carnot mathematician NE17
LAME Gabriel Lamé mathematician NE18

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.

Hydraulic engineers and scholars

Fourteen hydraulic engineers and scholars are listed on the Eiffel Tower. Eiffel acknowledged most of the leading scientists in the field. Henri Philibert Gaspard Darcy is missing; some of his work did not come into wide use until the 20th century. Also missing are Antoine Chézy, who was less famous; Joseph Valentin Boussinesq, who was early in his career at the time; and mathematician Évariste Galois. Other famous French mathematicians are missing from the list: Joseph Liouville and Charles Hermite.

Notes

  1. not to be confused with Jules-Albert de Dion, automobile pioneer
  2. not to be confused with Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, his son

References

  1. "The 72 Scientists". La Tour Eiffel. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
  2. Harriss, Joseph (1975). The Tallest Tower: Eiffel And The Belle Epoque. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 100–101. ISBN 0395204402.
  3. Gray, Mary (1978). "Sophie Germain (1776–1831)". In Grinstein, Louise S.; Campbell, Paul (eds.). Women of Mathematics: A Bibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood. pp. 47–55. ISBN 978-0-313-24849-8.
  4. 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.
  5. Chanson, Hubert (13 April 2009). "Hydraulic Engineering Legends Listed on the Eiffel Tower". In Rogers, Jerry R. (ed.). Great Rivers History: Proceedings and Invited Papers for the EWRI Congress and Great Rivers History Symposium. American Society of Civil Engineers. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1061/41032(344)1. ISBN 978-0-7844-1032-5.

Further reading

External links

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