Science · Technology · 1852–1908
Born: 15 December 1852 · Died: 25 August 1908 · Age at death: 55
Antoine Henri Becquerel died aged 55. He was born on 15 December 1852 and died on 25 August 1908.
French physicist who discovered radioactivity in uranium in 1896 and shared the Nobel Prize with Marie and Pierre Curie
Did you know?The SI unit of radioactivity, the becquerel, is named after him in honour of his pioneering scientific contributions.
Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity almost by accident. He came from a family of physicists who studied light and phosphorescence in Paris. In 1896, studying uranium salts, he found that they fogged a photographic plate even in the dark. Something invisible was coming from the uranium itself. It was the first sign of radioactivity. Marie and Pierre Curie took up his discovery. In 1903 he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with them. The unit of radioactivity, the becquerel, is named after him.
Antoine Henri Becquerel (15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a French experimental physicist who shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Marie and Pierre Curie for his discovery of radioactivity.
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Profile
French physicist, 1852–1908
Henri Becquerel was born in Paris on 15 December 1852.
He discovered radioactivity in 1896.
He shared the Nobel Prize with the Curies in 1903.
The becquerel unit is named after him.
Career highlights
Did you know?His father and grandfather were also physicists at the same museum.
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