The Eiffel Tower may soon be enriched with new names inscribed in its history. The Paris authorities have proposed commemorating outstanding female researchers whose achievements have remained outside the official scientific canon for many years. Among the women selected are Maria Skłodowska-Curie and her daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie.
The Eiffel Tower as a science gallery
When the iron tower designed by Gustave Eiffel was built at the end of the 19th century, its creator had already planned for it to serve as a kind of gallery of the scientific achievements of the era. The names of 72 scientists, engineers and industrialists were placed on the first level of the structure. Their list reflected the contemporary view of the world of science, in which women rarely received official recognition, despite their real successes.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie on the Eiffel Tower
The proposal announced by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo aims to add 72 women who have made significant contributions to the development of science and technology to the historical list of men. In this way, the city wants to correct their long-standing omission and symbolically expand the narrative inscribed on one of France’s most famous monuments. The project will now be evaluated by the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Technology and the Academy of Medicine. Only after their approval will it be possible to begin work. The new inscriptions are to be made in the same font, placed at the same level and gilded to maintain consistency with the existing inscriptions.
Maria Skłodowska-Curie and her achievements
Among the names proposed was Maria Skłodowska-Curie. The Warsaw-born scientist played a key role in the development of research into radioactivity, discovering the elements polonium and radium. Her achievements earned her two Nobel Prizes in two separate fields of science, physics and chemistry, which was an unprecedented event. The list also includes her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry. Honouring their names on the Eiffel Tower is a symbolic gesture reminding us of the Curie family’s influence on the development of global science.
Source: tvpworld.com
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