Henri Becquerel

Antoine Henri Becquerel (born December 15, 1852 in Paris , † August 25, 1908 in Le Croisic , Loire-Atlantique ) was a French physicist . In 1903 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics together with Marie and Pierre Curie for the discovery of radioactivity . His father was Alexandre Edmond Becquerel , the discoverer of the photoelectric effect .

Live and act

Henri Becquerel studied at the École Polytechnique from 1872 to 1874 . In 1874 he married Lucie Jamin, the daughter of Jules Jamin . From this connection comes the son of the physicist Jean Becquerel . From 1874 to 1877 he continued his studies at the École des Ponts et Chaussées . Then Becquerel began his academic career as an assistant at the École polytechnique , whose chair in physics he received in 1895. After his wife died, he married Louise Lorieux in 1890. In 1896, Becquerel experimented with the phosphorescence of uranium salts . After he had placed a photo plate on some specimens deposited in a dark room , he noticed on March 1, 1896 that the plate had been blackened, although no light could have entered beforehand, which could have stimulated the uranium salts to phosphorescence. This was an indication that a radiation existed that does not belong to the spectrum of visible light - this radiation Becquerel called uranium rays . The recently discovered X-rays and cathode rays have similar properties . Becquerel had discovered the radioactivity with this experiment . In 1900 he showed in further research that the fast electrons ( β radiation ) escaping from the atomic nucleus can be magnetically deflected.

Becquerel also carried out important research on phosphorescence , spectroscopy and the absorption of light.

He died at the age of 55 and rests in the Cimetière ancien ( German old cemetery ) of Châtillon-Coligny in the family grave of the Becquerels.

Honors

In 1900 he was awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society , into which he was accepted on June 4, 1908.

In 1903, Becquerel shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with French physicists Pierre Curie and Marie Curie for their work on radioactivity . He received the award "in recognition of the extraordinary service he has earned through the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity."

In 1905 he was awarded the Barnard Medal .

The unit of measurement Becquerel for radioactivity was named after him.

In 1970 the lunar crater Becquerel was named after him.

In 1973 the Becquerel crater was named after him.
In 1996 the asteroid (6914) Becquerel was named after him.

Becquerel was a member of several scientific academies. In 1889 he became a member of the Académie des Sciences . From 1904 he belonged to the Prussian Academy of Sciences as a corresponding member, from 1905 to the National Academy of Sciences as a foreign associate . In 1902 he became an elected member of the American Philosophical Society .

Fonts (selection)

Sur les radiations émises par phosphorescence . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 122, 1896, pp. 420-421 ( online ).
Sur les radiations invisibles émises par les corp s phosphorescents . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 122, 1896, pp. 501-503 (on- line ).
Sur quelquer propriétés nouvelles des radiations invisibles émises par divers corps phosphorescents . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 122, 1896, pp. 559-564 ( online ).
Sur les radiations invisibles émises par les sels d'uranium . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 122, 1896, pp. 689-694 ( online ).
Sur les propriétés différentes des radiations invisibles émises par les sels d'uranium, et du rayonnement de la paroi anticathodique d'un tube de Crookes . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 122, 1896, pp. 762-767 ( online ).
Emission de radiation nouvelles par l'uranium metal . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 122, 1896, pp. 1086-1088 ( online ).
Sur various propriétés des rayons uraniques . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Vol. 123, 1896, pp. 1086-1088 ( online ).
Research on les rayons uraniques . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . 124, 1897, pp. 438-444 ( online ).
Sur la loi de la discharge dans l'air de l'uranium électrisé . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . 124, 1897, pp. 800-803 ( online ).
Influence d'un champ magnétique sur le rayonnement des corps radio-actifs . In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des sciences . Volume 129, 1899, pp. 996-1001 ( online ).

Sur le rayonnement de l'uranium et sur diverse proprietes physiques du rayonnement des corps radio-actifs . In: Rapports présentés au Congrès international de physique réuni à Paris en 1900 sous les auspices de la Société française de physique . Volume 3, Gauthier-Villars, Paris 1900, pp. 47-78.
Research on the Propriete Nouvelle de la Matiere . = Memoires de l'Academie des Sciences . Volume 46, Fermin-Didot, Paris 1903 ( online ).

literature

André Allisy: Henri Becquerel: The Discovery of Radioactivity . In: Radiation Protection Dosimetry . Volume 68, Number 1-2, 1996, pp. 3-10 ( online ).
Isaac Asimov : Biographical Encyclopedia of Natural Sciences and Technology , Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1974, ISBN 3-451-16718-2 , p. 379
Lawrence Badash: Becquerel's Blunder . In: Social Research . Volume 72, Number 1, 2005, pp. 31-62 ( JSTOR 40972001 ).
Klaus Hentschel : Becquerel, Antoine Henri. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 158 f.
Alfred Romer: Becquerel, [Antoine-] Henri . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 1 : Pierre Abailard - LS Berg . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1970, p. 558-561 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Henri Becquerel - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Susanne Eckelmann: Henri Becquerel. Tabular curriculum vitae in the LeMO ( DHM and HdG )
Information from the Nobel Foundation on the 1903 award ceremony for Antoine Henri Becquerel
Entry to becquerel; Antoine Henri (1852-1908) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London

Individual evidence

↑ knerger.de: The grave of Henri Becquerel
↑ Minor Planet Circ. 27332
^ Members of the previous academies. Antoine-Henri Becquerel. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on February 19, 2015 .

personal data
SURNAME	Becquerel, Henri
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Becquerel, Antoine Henri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French physicist and discoverer of radioactivity
DATE OF BIRTH	December 15, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	August 25, 1908
Place of death	Le Croisic

[1] rger.de: The grave of Henri Becquerel

[2] Minor Planet Circ. 27332

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