(Antoine) Henri Becquerel

Physicist, born in Paris, France. An expert on fluorescence, he discovered the Becquerel rays, emitted from the uranium salts in pitchblende (1896), which led to the isolation of radium and to the beginnings of modern nuclear physics. For his discovery of radioactivity he shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with the Curies.

For the SI unit of radioactivity, see Becquerel. Antoine Henri Becquerel

Antoine Becquerel, French physicist
Born	December 15, 1852 Paris, France
Died	August 25, 1908 Le Croisic, Brittany, France
Residence	France
Nationality	French
Field	Physicist
Institution	Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers École Polytechnique Paris Museum
Alma Mater	École Polytechnique École des Ponts et Chaussées
Known for	Radioactivity
Notable Prizes	Nobel Prize for Physics (1903)
Religion	Roman Catholic
Note that he is the father of Jean Becquerel, the son of A.

Antoine Henri Becquerel (December 15, 1852 – August 25, 1908) was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the discoverers of radioactivity.

Describing his method to the French Academy of Sciences on January 24, 1896, he said,

One wraps a Lumière photographic plate with a bromide emulsion in two sheets of very thick black paper, such that the plate does not become clouded upon being exposed to the sun for a day.

The SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq), is named after him, and there are Becquerel craters on the Moon and Mars.