Agnes Ullmann, a microbiology specialist of Romanian origin, is among the 72 female researchers whose names are to be engraved on a frieze displayed on the Paris Eiffel Tower, reports sortiraparis.com.
On the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, a frieze features the names of 72 French scholars - researchers, engineers and industrialists - such as Gustave Eiffel, Léon Foucault, Augustin Fresnel, Augustin-Louis Cauchy and Eugčne Belgrand. For 130 years, the names of these scientists, chosen for having brought honor to France between 1789 and 1889, have been written in large, golden, embossed letters, as a symbol of the hopes placed in scientific progress at the end of the 19th century.
They will soon be joined by 72 women scientists, including the legendary Marie Curie, but also Angelique du Coudray - an obstetrician born in 1712, Yvonne Bruhat - a physicist and mathematician who died in 2025, and Agness Ullmann, a specialist in microbiology of Romanian origin.
The announcement was made last week by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who presented the proposals for the 72 women scientists - specialists in astronomy, mathematics, medicine and other fields, often forgotten by history - whose names will be inscribed on a strip just above the existing frieze, on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Microbiology specialist Agnes Ullmann (1927 - 2019) was born in Satu Mare. She pursued university studies in Budapest, and fled Hungary in 1959 with the help of Jacques Monod. A naturalized French citizen in 1966, she later joined the National Centre for Scientific Research - CNRS (1972 - 1992) and the Pasteur Institute (1978 - 1996), where she became head of a laboratory in 1978 and professor in 1983. She authored nearly 200 scientific articles and contributed to numerous courses emphasizing practical laboratory work.
A close collaborator of Jacques Monod and an internationally renowned researcher, she made significant contributions to the advancement of molecular biology. Her work on genetic regulation mechanisms (including the lactose operon) and allostery proved crucial for the development of new treatments and vaccines.
She was particularly interested in pertussis (whooping cough) and developed vaccines by combining genetically modified pertussis toxin with antigenic fragments.
Initiated in March 2025 by the City of Paris, the Eiffel Tower Operating Company (SETE) and the Femmes & Sciences Association, this project aims to restore these women "to their rightful place in the scientific Pantheon," the Paris municipality said.
"The time has come to restore women to their rightful place on the Eiffel Tower, this exceptional monument, admired worldwide and designed by Gustave Eiffel as a tribute to science and scientists! Soon, young girls gazing at the Eiffel Tower will be able to aspire to become doctors, mathematicians, chemists, biologists, computer scientists, engineers, physicists, astrophysicists, or climate scientists. We need scientists and women to shape the future of our world. This is a wonderful prospect that should inspire and excite us all," Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a press release.
The list with the names of the 72 women researchers must be submitted to and approved by members of three relevant academies (Sciences, Medicine and Technology), which will issue an opinion for the official and final validation thereof.
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