Physicist — Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852–1908) was a French physicist, belonging to a dynasty of scientists active at the Muséum in Paris. In 1896, while studying the fluorescence of uranium salts, he discovered by chance that they spontaneously emitted radiation capable of fogging a photographic plate even in the dark: he had discovered natural radioactivity. This discovery opened up an entirely new field of research, continued by Marie and Pierre Curie. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with the Curies in 1903. In his honour the SI unit of radioactive activity is called the becquerel.
Trivia
The discovery came about through a lucky accident: cloudy days forced him to put away the uranium salts in a drawer together with a photographic plate, which he later found had been fogged despite the absence of sunlight.
Theories and contributions
- Discovery of radioactivity — Uranium salts spontaneously emit penetrating radiation, a phenomenon independent of any external source of energy.
- Becquerel (unit) — SI unit of radioactive activity: corresponds to one decay per second.
Present in chapters
Linked atoms
2 linked atoms.