1. Henri Becquerel started off his education by attending the Lycee Louis-le-Grand school, a prep school in Paris.
19 Facts About Henri Becquerel
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Henri Becquerel studied engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees.
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Later on in 1894, Henri Becquerel became chief engineer in the Department of Bridges and Highways before he started with his early experiments.
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Early in his career, Henri Becquerel studied the Earth's magnetic fields.
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Henri Becquerel's discovery of spontaneous radioactivity is a famous example of serendipity, of how chance favors the prepared mind.
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Henri Becquerel had long been interested in phosphorescence, the emission of light of one color following the object's exposure to light of another color.
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Henri Becquerel "began looking for a connection between the phosphorescence he had already been investigating and the newly discovered x-rays" of Rontgen, and thought that phosphorescent materials might emit penetrating X-ray-like radiation when illuminated by bright sunlight; he had various phosphorescent materials including some uranium salts for his experiments.
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The intensive research of radioactivity led to Henri Becquerel publishing seven papers on the subject in 1896.
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In 1868, Edmond Henri Becquerel published a book, La lumiere: ses causes et ses effets.
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Later in his life in 1900, Henri Becquerel measured the properties of beta particles, and he realized that they had the same measurements as high speed electrons leaving the nucleus.
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In 1901 Henri Becquerel made the discovery that radioactivity could be used for medicine.
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Henri Becquerel made this discovery when he left a piece of radium in his vest pocket and noticed that he had been burnt by it.
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In 1908 Henri Becquerel was elected president of Academie des Sciences, but he died on 25 August 1908, at the age of 55, in Le Croisic, France.
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In 1889, Henri Becquerel became a member of the Academie des Sciences.
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In 1900, Henri Becquerel won the Rumford Medal for his discovery of the radioactivity of uranium and he awarded the title of an Officer of the Legion of Honour.
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In 1903, Henri Becquerel shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre Curie and Marie Curie for the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity.
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In 1906, Henri was elected Vice Chairman of the academy, and in 1908, the year of his death, Becquerel was elected Permanent Secretary of the Academie des Sciences.
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Henri Becquerel was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1908.
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Henri Becquerel has been honored with being the namesake of many different scientific discoveries.