In 2026, 72 women scientists will be honored on the Eiffel Tower. Their names will be engraved in gold letters alongside the male figures already present on the monument. Among them are two emblematic scientists trained at Chimie ParisTech-PSL: Suzanne Veil and Ethel Moustacchi.

“To express in a striking manner that the monument I am building will be placed under the invocation of Science, I have decided to inscribe in gold letters on the great frieze of the first floor, in a place of honor, the names of the greatest scholars who have honored France from 1789 to the present day.”
— Gustave Eiffel (quoted by Barral, 1892)

Chimie ParisTech-PSL: A Pioneer in the Education of Women Scientists. Training women scientists has long been central to the School’s history. As early as 1916, Mademoiselles Cottereau and Force were admitted to the École and graduated as engineering chemists in 1919, marking the opening of Chimie ParisTech-PSL to women students.

One hundred years later, in 2026, women represent 40% of engineering students, reflecting the School’s continued commitment to gender equality and the promotion of scientific careers for women. Suzanne Veil and Ethel Moustacchi fully embody this legacy.

Suzanne Veil (1886–1956), Chemical Engineer. A Doctor of Chemistry in the research group of Marie Curie, Suzanne Veil played a crucial role during the First World War by providing radiology services at the front to locate shrapnel in wounded soldiers. She trained nurses in radiological techniques, contributing directly to wartime medical care.

A chemist and translator, she worked with Marie Curie in her laboratory and trained at the École nationale de Chimie de Paris (now Chimie ParisTech-PSL). She became Head of Laboratory at the Faculty of Sciences of Paris (1921) and later Head of Research at the École pratique des hautes études (1930).

Her research focused on the physico-chemistry of metal oxides and their mixtures, reflecting her strong interest in inorganic chemistry. In 1923, she collaborated with Francis W. Aston on isotopes. She studied metallic complexes including nickel, chromium, and cobalt, and published on periodic phenomena in chemistry during the 1930s.

In 1948, she contributed to the Manuel de radiologie industrielle, opening new perspectives for chemistry in radiological applications—an exemplary career bridging fundamental research and industrial innovation.

Ethel Moustacchi (1933–2016), Biochemist. After spending her childhood in Cairo, Ethel Moustacchi studied chemistry and biology at the Faculty of Sciences of Paris. A leading figure in radiobiology and molecular biology research, she joined the École nationale supérieure de chimie de Paris and, in 1954, the Institut du Radium (later the Institut Curie).

Recruited by the CNRS in 1959, she defended her doctoral thesis in 1964 on “the factors of radioresistance in yeast.” After a postdoctoral stay in Seattle, she became Head of the Radiobiology Laboratory on the Orsay campus, an annex of the Institut du Radium.

Her research focused on DNA damage. In 1985, she directed a laboratory at the Institut Curie dedicated to studying the mechanisms of mutagenesis and DNA repair, particularly in diseases induced by radiation and chemotherapy. From 1995 onward, she served as Scientific Advisor for Biology at the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives.