Born: 15 August 1892 · Died: 19 March 1987 · Age at death: 94
How old was Louis de Broglie when he died?
Louis de Broglie died aged 94. He was born on 15 August 1892 and died on 19 March 1987.
French physicist who discovered that matter behaves like a wave
Did you know?His groundbreaking research into quantum mechanics was originally presented in a doctoral thesis that initially baffled his examiners.
Quick facts
Date of birth15 August 1892
Date of death19 March 1987
Age at death94
NationalityFrench
BirthplaceDieppe, France
Occupationphysicist, mathematician, university teacher
Editor's Take:
Louis de Broglie made one of the boldest guesses in physics in his doctoral thesis. If light could act like particles, he asked, why should particles not act like waves? Einstein praised the idea. Within three years, experiments showed electrons bending like waves. Schrödinger built his wave equation on it. The electron microscope also depends on it. De Broglie spent the rest of his career looking for a more intuitive picture of quantum reality.
Key Milestones
1924: Proposes that electrons behave as waves
1927: Experiments confirm electron diffraction
1929: Wins the Nobel Prize in Physics
1944: Elected to the Académie française
Louis Victor Pierre Raymond, 7th Duc de Broglie (French:; 15 August 1892 – 19 March 1987) was a French theoretical physicist and aristocrat known for his contributions to quantum theory. In his 1924 Ph.D. thesis, he postulated the wave nature of electrons and suggested that all matter has wave properties.