A little wonder, every day

Science and radio helped save the Eiffel Tower

Black-and-white view of the Eiffel Tower and 1889 World's Fair grounds from the Trocadéro. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiffel_tower_at_Exposition_Universelle,_Paris,_1889.jpg . Creator: probably Neurdein; digitized by the Library of Congress. Public domain in the United States; Commons marks it public domain. Attribution is not stated as a legal requirement; credit is included here. Downloaded Commons thumbnail without further edits.

Louis-Émile Durandelle photograph of the tower under construction in 1888. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Louis-Emile_Durandelle,_The_Eiffel_Tower_-_State_of_the_Construction,_1888.jpg . Source collection: Getty Research Institute Open Content; public domain / Public Domain Mark, no known copyright restrictions. Creator credited; downloaded 1920-pixel Commons thumbnail.

Colorized photochrom view of the completed tower and fountain at the 1889 exposition. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiffel_Tower_and_fountain,_Exposition_Universal,_1889,_Paris,_France.jpg . Source: Detroit Publishing Company / Library of Congress; no known copyright restrictions, public domain. Credit included here; downloaded Commons thumbnail without further edits.

Archival photograph of Gustave Eiffel on the tower in 1889. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Exposition_Universelle_Paris_1889._M._Eiffel_au_sommet_de_la_Tour_-_btv1b11600062x.jpg . Creator: Neurdein frères; source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica. Public domain in France and the United States; attribution remains mandatory, and is included here. Downloaded 1920-pixel Commons thumbnail.

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Black-and-white view of the Eiffel Tower and 1889 World's Fair grounds from the Trocadéro. Original page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eiffel_tower_at_Exposition_Universelle,_Paris,_1889.jpg . Creator: probably Neurdein; digitized by the Library of Congress. Public domain in the United States; Commons marks it public domain. Attribution is not stated as a legal requirement; credit is included here. Downloaded Commons thumbnail without further edits.

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The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris World's Fair, which marked the centenary of the French Revolution. It was initially supposed to be dismantled after 20 years. To preserve it, Gustave Eiffel promoted scientific uses for the structure: researchers conducted meteorological and physics experiments there, and it later became an important radio antenna. Its strategic value helped Paris renew the concession that let it remain standing in early 1910.