Antoine César Becquerel

Antoine César Becquerel (born March 8, 1788 in Châtillon-sur-Loing, today's Châtillon-Coligny, † January 18, 1878 in Paris ) was a French physicist.

Life

Antoine César Becquerel was born on March 8, 1788 in Châtillon-sur-Loing (now Châtillon-Coligny in the Loiret department ). He attended the Polytechnic School in Paris and was at the Lycée Henri IV a . a. trained under Augustin-Louis Cauchy . In 1808 he joined the military and worked as an engineer officer until 1815. Among other things, he served under General Suchet in Spain. He left the army as battalion chief. From 1837 he taught at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. From 1835 he was a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1837 he was elected a foreign member ("Foreign Member") of the Royal Society . In 1839 he became president of the Académie des Sciences. He died in Paris on January 18, 1878.

plant

He dealt with electrochemistry and magnetism , in doing so he pursued (contrary to Volta's contact theory) the idea that the generation of electricity in the galvanic elements comes about through chemical processes. Becquerel studied electrolytic conductivity and galvanic electricity generation. In 1819 he discovered piezoelectricity . Even before Michael Faraday , he recognized the diamagnetic repulsion of bismuth and antimony in 1827 . In 1829 he constructed the first constant direct current element - a forerunner of the Daniell element .

He improved the measuring accuracy of the electrical resistance by constructing a differential galvanometer (1826) in which the magnetic needle is surrounded by two wires of the same thickness, each of which has the same number of turns. This device gave rise to the invention of the differential counter-speaking by Siemens and Carl Ludwig Frischen in 1854 . His investigations into thermoelectricity led him to the invention of the electric thermometer .

His sons Louis Alfred and Alexandre Edmond , his grandson (Antoine) Henri and his great grandson Jean were also important physicists; Antoine Henri discovered u. a. the radioactivity and received in 1903 the Nobel Prize .

He is one of 72 scientists who were immortalized on the Eiffel Tower .

Honors

After him, the genus Becquerelia is Brongn. named from the sour grass family (Cyperaceae).

Fonts

Traité expérimental de l'électricité et du magnétisme, et de leurs rapports avec les phénomènes naturels , 7 volumes and atlas, Paris, Didot, 1834–1840
Eléments d'électrochimie appliquée aux sciences naturelles et aux arts , Paris, Didot, 1843; in German: 3rd edition, Erfurt, 1857
Traité de physique considérée dans ses rapports avec la chimie et les sciences naturelles , 2 volumes, Paris, Didot, 1842–1844.
Traité des engrais inorganiques en général, et du sel marin en particulière , Paris, Didot, 1848
Des climats et de l'influence qu'exercent les sols boisés et non boisés , Paris, Didot, 1853
Des causes d'altération des métaux , Paris, Didot, 1864
Des forces physico-chimiques et de leur intervention dans la production des phénomènes naturels , Paris, Didot, 1875

Together with his son Alexandre Edmond Becquerel he published:

Eléments de physique terrestre et de météorologie , Paris, Didot, 1847
Résumé de l'histoire de l'électricité et du magnétisme, et des applications de ces sciences à la chimie, aux sciences naturelles et aux arts , Paris, Didot, 1858
Traité d'électricité et de magnétisme et de leurs applications aux sciences physiques, aux arts, à l'industrie, vol. 1: Électricité, principes généraux , 3 volumes, Paris, Didot, 1855–1856

literature

Éloge biographique de Antoine César Becquerel , Barral, Paris, 1879
Encyclopædia Britannica from 1911, 11th edition. Vol. 3. London 1910-1911, p. 612: Becquerel family . Archived in: Project Gutenberg .
David M. Knight: Becquerel, Antoine-César . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 1 : Pierre Abailard - LS Berg . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1970, p. 557-558 .

Individual evidence

^ Members of the previous academies. Antoine-César Becquerel. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on February 19, 2015 .

^ Entry on Becquerel, Antoine Cesar (1788 - 1878) in the archives of the Royal Society , London

↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .

personal data
SURNAME	Becquerel, Antoine César
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French physicist
DATE OF BIRTH	March 8, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH	Châtillon-sur-Loing
DATE OF DEATH	January 18, 1878
Place of death	Paris

[1] Members of the previous academies. Antoine-César Becquerel. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on February 19, 2015 .

[2] Entry on Becquerel, Antoine Cesar (1788 - 1878) in the archives of the Royal Society , London

[Burkhardt_2018-3] Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .