HENRI BECQUEREL

For bequerel, the SI unit of radioactivity, see Becquerel.

Antoine Henri Becquerel

Antoine Becquerel, French physicist
Born	December 15, 1852 Paris, France
Died	August 25, 1908 Le Croisic, Brittany, France
Residence	France
Nationality	French
Field	Physicist
Institution	University of Amsterdam
Alma Mater	École Polytechnique, École des Ponts et Chaussées
Doctoral Advisor	<please insert>
Doctoral Students	<please insert>
Known for	Radioactivity
Prizes	Rumford Medal (1900), Helmholtz Medal (1901), Nobel Prize for Physics (1903), Barnard Medal (1905)
Spouse	Louise Désirée Lorieux (m. 1890)
Children	Jean
Religion	Roman Catholic

Antoine Henri Becquerel (December 15, 1852 – August 25, 1908) was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the discoverers of radioactivity.

Early days

Becquerel was born in Paris into a scientific family which, including him and his son, produced four generations of scientists. He studied science at the École Polytechnique and engineering at the École des Ponts et Chaussées.

Rise in natural sciences, discoveries and major works

In 1892 he became the third in his family to occupy the physics chair at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. In 1894 he became chief engineer in the Department of Bridges and Highways.

In 1896, while investigating phosphorescence in uranium salts, Becquerel discovered radioactivity accidentally. Investigating the work of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Becquerel wrapped a fluorescent mineral, potassium uranyl sulfate, in photographic plates and black material in preparation for an experiment requiring bright sunlight. However, prior to actually performing the experiment, Becquerel found that the photographic plates were fully exposed. This discovery led Becquerel to investigate the spontaneous emission of nuclear radiation. In 1903 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity".

Image of Becquerel's photographic plate which has been fogged by exposure to radiation from uranium salts. The shadow of a metal Maltese Cross placed between the plate and the uranium salts is clearly visible.

Final days and legacy

In 1908, the year of his death, Becquerel was elected permanent secretary of the Académie des Sciences. He died at the age of 55 in Le Croisic.

The SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq) is named after him, and also there are Becquerel craters on the Moon and Mars.

See also

• A. E. Becquerel (his father)
• Antoine César Becquerel (his grandfather)
• Jean Becquerel (his son)

External links

• Henri Becquerel - Biography
• About Henri Becquerel
• Becquerel short biography and the use of his name as an unit of measure in the SI
• Henri Becquerel
• Annotated bibliography for Henri Becquerel from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues

Nobel Prize in Physics: Laureates

1901: Röntgen 02: Lorentz, Zeeman 03: Becquerel, P.Curie, M.Curie 04: Rayleigh 05: Lenard 06: Thomson 07: Michelson 08: Lippmann 09: Marconi, Braun 10: van der Waals 11: Wien 12: Dalén 13: Kamerlingh Onnes 14: von Laue 15: Bragg 17: Barkla 18: Planck 19: Stark 20: Guillaume 21: Einstein 22: N.Bohr 23: Millikan 24: Siegbahn 25: Franck, Hertz 26: Perrin 27: Compton, Wilson 28: Richardson 29: de Broglie 30: Raman 32: Heisenberg 33: Schrödinger, Dirac 35: Chadwick 36: Hess, Anderson 37: Davisson, Thomson 38: Fermi 39: Lawrence 43: Stern 44: Rabi 45: Pauli 46: Bridgman 47: Appleton 48: Blackett 49: Yukawa 50: Powell 51: Cockcroft, Walton 52: Bloch, Purcell 53: Zernike 54: Born, Bothe 55: Lamb, Kusch 56: Shockley, Bardeen, Brattain 57: Yang, T.D.Lee 58: Cherenkov, Frank, Tamm 59: Segrè, Chamberlain 60: Glaser 61: Hofstadter, Mössbauer 62: Landau 63: Wigner, Goeppert‑Mayer, Jensen 64: Townes, Basov, Prokhorov 65: Tomonaga, Schwinger, Feynman 66: Kastler 67: Bethe 68: Alvarez 69: Gell‑Mann 70: Alfvén, Néel 71: Gabor 72: Bardeen, Cooper, Schrieffer 73: Esaki, Giaever, Josephson 74: Ryle, Hewish 75: A.Bohr, Mottelson, Rainwater 76: Richter, Ting 77: Anderson, Mott, van Vleck 78: Kapitsa, Penzias, Wilson 79: Glashow, Salam, Weinberg 80: Cronin, Fitch 81: Bloembergen, Schawlow, Siegbahn 82: Wilson 83: Chandrasekhar, Fowler 84: Carlo Rubbia, van der Meer 85: von Klitzing 86: Ruska, Binnig, Rohrer 87: Bednorz, Müller 88: Lederman, Schwartz, Steinberger 89: Ramsey, Dehmelt, Paul 90: Friedman, Kendall, Taylor 91: de Gennes 92: Charpak 93: Hulse, Taylor 94: Brockhouse, Shull 95: Perl, Reines 96: D.Lee, Osheroff, Richardson 97: Chu, Cohen‑Tannoudji, Phillips 98: Laughlin, Störmer, Tsui 99: 't Hooft, Veltman 2000: Alferov, Kroemer, Kilby 01: Cornell, Ketterle, Wieman 02: Davis, Koshiba, Giacconi 03: Abrikosov, Ginzburg, Leggett 04: Gross, Politzer, Wilczek 05: Glauber, Hall, Hänsch