France honor 72 women scientists –
On Monday, a multidisciplinary commission
presented the mayor of Paris with a list of 72 names of women who will join the exclusively male scientists whose names are inscribed on the frieze of the ‘Iron Lady.’ Gustave Eiffel decided to adorn the first floor of his tower, built in 1889, with a frieze featuring, in gold letters, “the names of the greatest scientists who have honored France from 1789 to the present day.” It was a different era: There was not a single woman among the 72 names personally selected by Eiffel. Not even Sophie Germain (1776-1831), who in 1815 received the Grand Prize in Mathematical Sciences from the Academy of Sciences. These 19th-century scientists are set to be joined in 2027 by 72 female peers. Subject to the necessary authorizations and the complex procedures required to modify a historic monument, their names will also be engraved beneath the first floor, in the same style as the existing ones
