When you think of the Eiffel tower, what you do think of?  Paris, the city of love?  Iconic architecture?  How about a tribute to the greatest scientists of the 19th century?  Well you will now!

The first balcony of the iconic tower contains the names of prominent French scientists, mathematicians and engineers!  Their names are painted in gold, and there’s reason to believe that they were added to curb protests against the tower being built.  There are 72 scientists listed, including Fourier, Coulomb, Gay-Lussac, Becquerel, Laplace and Ampère.  Prominent women such as Marie-Sophie Germain were excluded from the list – even though her work on the theory of elasticity was used to construct the tower itself!

Working in Europe means that it’s easy to travel, and two days ago I got a chance to see the names for myself!  The images are a little difficult to see, but you can visit wikipedia for a full list!  Which names do you recognize?