Edmond Becquerel | |
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 Photograph of Becquerel byNadar | |
| Born | Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel (1820-03-24)24 March 1820 |
| Died | 11 May 1891(1891-05-11) (aged 71) Paris,French Republic |
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| Children | Henri Becquerel |
| Father | Antoine César Becquerel |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
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Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel (French:[alɛksɑ̃dʁɛdmɔ̃bɛkʁɛl]; 24 March 1820 – 11 May 1891)[1] was a Frenchphysicist who studied thesolar spectrum,magnetism,electricity, andoptics. In 1839, he discovered thephotovoltaic effect, the operating principle of thesolar cell, which he invented in the same year.[2][3] He is also known for his work inluminescence andphosphorescence. He was the son ofAntoine César Becquerel and the father ofHenri Becquerel, the discoverer ofradioactivity.
Born inParis, Becquerel was the pupil-turned-successor of his father at theMuséum national d'histoire naturelle. He was also appointed professor at the short-lived Agronomic Institute inVersailles in 1849, and in 1853, received the Chair of Physics at theConservatoire des arts et métiers.[4] He was associated with his father in much of his work.
In 1839, at age 19, while experimenting in his father's laboratory, Becquerel created the world's firstphotovoltaic cell. In this experiment, he placedsilver chloride in an acidic solution and illuminated it while it was connected toplatinumelectrodes, thus generatingvoltage andcurrent. Because of this work, thephotovoltaic effect has also been known as the "Becquerel effect".[4]
Becquerel was an early experimenter inphotography. In 1840, he discovered that thesilver halides, natively insensitive to red and yellow light, became sensitive to that part of the spectrum in proportion to their exposure to blue, violet and ultraviolet light, allowingdaguerreotypes and other photographic materials to bedeveloped by bathing in strong red or yellow light rather than by chemical treatment.[5] In practice this technique was rarely used. In 1848 he produced color photographs of the solar spectrum, and also of camera images, by a technique later found to be akin to theLippmann interference method, but the camera exposures required were impractically long and the images could not be stabilized, their colors persisting only if kept in total darkness,[6] however this work is based on the discoveries of J. T. Seebeck prior to 1810.[7]
Becquerel paid special attention to the study of light, investigating thephotochemical effects andspectroscopic characters ofsolar radiation and the electric arc light, and the phenomena of phosphorescence, particularly as displayed by thesulfides and by compounds ofuranium. It was in connection with these latter inquiries that he devised hisphosphoroscope, an apparatus which enabled the interval between exposure to the source of light and observation of the resulting effects to be varied at will and accurately measured.
He investigated thediamagnetic andparamagnetic properties of substances and was keenly interested in the phenomena of electrochemical decomposition, accumulating much evidence in favor ofFaraday's law of electrolysis and proposing a modified statement of it which was intended to cover certain apparent exceptions.In 1853, Becquerel discoveredthermionic emission.
In 1867 and 1868 Becquerel publishedLa lumière, ses causes et ses effets (Light, its Causes and Effects), a two-volume treatise which became a standard text. His many papers, essays, and commentaries appeared in French scientific journals, mainly theFrench Academy of Sciences' widely distributedComptes Rendus, from 1839 until shortly before his death in 1891.
Becquerel was elected a member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1886.
TheBecquerel Prize for "outstanding merit in photovoltaics" is awarded annually at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC).
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