List of the 72 names on the Eiffel tower - wikipedia List of the 72 names on the Eiffel tower The location of the names on the tower On the Eiffel Tower, seventy - two names of French 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. The engravings are found on the sides of the tower under the first balcony, in letters about 60 cm high, and originally painted in gold. The engraving was painted over at the beginning of the twentieth century and restored in 1986 -- 1987 by Société Nouvelle d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, the company contracted by the city of Paris to operate the Tower. The repainting of 2010 -- 2011 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 the top of the tower on a plaque, where a laboratory was also built. Contents 1 List 1.1 Location 1.2 Names 2 Criticism 2.1 Women 2.2 Hydraulic engineers and scholars 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links List Location The list is split in four parts ( 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, La Bourdonnais is a part of Paris ) Petiet, Daguerre, Wurtz, Le Verrier, Perdonnet, Delambre, Malus, Breguet, Polonceau, Dumas, Clapeyron, Borda, Fourier, Bichat, Sauvage, Pelouze, Carnot, Lamé The South - East side ( also known as the Military School side ) 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 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 14 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. References Jump up ^ `` The 72 Scientists ''. La Tour Eiffel. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2008. Jump up ^ Harriss, Joseph ( 1975 ). The Tallest Tower : Eiffel And The Belle Epoque. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 100 -- 101. ISBN 0395204402. Jump up ^ Not to be confused with Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, his son. Jump up ^ Gray, Mary ( 1978 ). `` Sophie Germain ( 1776 - 1831 ) ''. In Louise S. Grinstein and Paul Campbell. Women of Mathematics : A Bibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood. pp. 47 -- 55. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 24849 - 8. CS1 maint : Uses editors parameter ( link ) Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Chanson, Hubert ( 13 April 2009 ). `` Hydraulic Engineering Legends Listed on the Eiffel Tower ''. In Jerry R. Rogers. 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 Barral, Georges ( 1892 ). Le Panthéon scientifique de la tour Eiffel : histoire des origines de la construction de la Tour. Savine. Reprinted as Barral, Georges ( 2013 ). Le Panthéon scientifique de la tour Eiffel : histoire des origines de la construction de la Tour. Hachette Livre. ISBN 2 - 01 - 285936 - 4. External links Paris portal Media related to 72 names on the Eiffel Tower at Wikimedia Commons Paris streets named for the 72 scientists Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_the_72_names_on_the_Eiffel_Tower&oldid=854280347 '' Categories : Lists of people by honor or award Lists of scientists French engineers French scientists Science and technology halls of fame Tourist attractions in Paris Eiffel Tower Paris - related lists Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Uses editors parameter All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Ирон עברית Latina Lëtzebuergesch Magyar മലയാളം Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Svenska Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 19 more Edit links This page was last edited on 10 August 2018, at 05 : 30 ( UTC ). About Wikipedia

Question: what do the names on the eiffel tower represent
Answer: French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians