11 Facts About Edmond Becquerel

Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel, known as Edmond Becquerel, was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics.

Edmond Becquerel is credited with the discovery of the photovoltaic effect, the operating principle of the solar cell, in 1839.

Edmond Becquerel is known for his work in luminescence and phosphorescence.

Edmond Becquerel was the son of Antoine Cesar Becquerel and the father of Henri Becquerel, one of the discoverers of radioactivity.

Edmond Becquerel was appointed professor at the short-lived Agronomic Institute at Versailles in 1849, and in 1853 received the chair of physics at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers.

Edmond Becquerel was associated with his father in much of his work.

In 1839, at age 19, experimenting in his father's laboratory, Edmond Becquerel created the world's first photovoltaic cell.

Edmond Becquerel paid special attention to the study of light, investigating the photochemical effects and spectroscopic characters of solar radiation and the electric arc light, and the phenomena of phosphorescence, particularly as displayed by the sulfides and by compounds of uranium.

Edmond Becquerel investigated the diamagnetic and paramagnetic properties of substances and was keenly interested in the phenomena of electrochemical decomposition, accumulating much evidence in favor of Faraday's law of electrolysis and proposing a modified statement of it which was intended to cover certain apparent exceptions.

In 1867 and 1868 Edmond Becquerel published La lumiere, ses causes et ses effets, a two-volume treatise which became a standard text.

Edmond Becquerel was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1886.