Antoine Henri Becquerel
- Born:
- December 15, 1852, Paris, France
- Died:
- August 25, 1908, Le Croisic, France
- Nationality:
- French
- Profession(s):
- Physicist
Early Life and Education
- Born into a family of scientists; both his father and grandfather were physicists.
- Educated at the École Polytechnique and the École des Ponts et Chaussées.
Career and Major Achievements
- Professor at the École Polytechnique in 1895.
- Professor at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in 1896.
- In 1896, discovered radioactivity while investigating phosphorescence in uranium salts. This discovery is often described in the context of the "becquerel antoine henri biography channel" documentaries.
- Showed that uranium salts emit radiation without any external source of energy.
- Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with Pierre and Marie Curie for his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity.
Notable Works
- His research on radioactivity, published in numerous scientific papers, revolutionized physics.
Legacy and Impact
Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity opened a new field of physics and led to significant advancements in medicine and other sciences. The SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq), is named in his honor.