Jean Becquerel
Jean Antoine Edmond Marie Becquerel (5 February 1878 – 4 July 1953) was a French physicist, the son of Antoine-Henri Becquerel. He worked on a range of experimental physics topics including magnetic effects on the optical properties of materials, and the effects of low-temperature on magnetic susceptibility. He was among the early teachers of relativity and quantum physics in France.
Jean Becquerel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 5 February 1878 Paris |
| Died | 4 July 1953 (aged 75) |
| Education | Lycée Louis-le-Grand; École Polytechnique, École des Ponts et Chaussées |
| Known for | Very low temperature |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Edmond Becquerel (grandfather), Antoine César Becquerel (great-grandfather) |
| Awards | Hughes Prize (1913), La Case Prize (1936) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
Biography
Becquerel was born at his home in the Jardin des Plantes where his father Henri (1852–1908), grandfather Edmond (1820–1891) and great-grandfather Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878) had lived. His mother Lucie was the daughter of J.C. Jamin, professor of physics at the Sorbonne. His childhood toys included magnets and electroscopes. He was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand before going to the École Polytechnique in 1897 and completed his studies at the École des Ponts et Chaussées.
He then became an assistant in physics at the Museum of Natural History. He worked on the optical and magnetic properties of crystals, and continued experiments to study changes in rotational polarisation induced by a magnetic field that his father had discovered.[1][2] He also published a textbook on relativity In 1903 some of his research came into question when he collaborated with surgeon André Broca to examine the radiation (N-Rays) supposedly emanating from living bodies (as claimed originally by René Blondlot) which was claimed to reduce upon the administration of anaesthetics.[3]
In 1909, he became the fourth in his family to occupy the physics chair at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, following in the footsteps of his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather. He taught physics along with Paul Langevin and was among the few who taught quantum theory and relativity in the 1920s. He was interested in electron theory and examined magnetic susceptibility in relation to temperature and began to experiment with rare-earth crystals at low temperatures. He examined these using spectroscopy and found that some absorption bands disappeared and this led to a collaboration with Heike Kamerlingh Onnes at Leiden. Here he examined materials at low-temperatures and described the spectra and looked at magnetic properties.[4]
Becquerel received the Hughes Prize of 1913 and the La Case Prize of 1936.
Selected works
- Principe de Relativité et la Théorie de la Gravitation, Lectures given in 1921 and 1922 at the École Polytechnique and the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, Gauthier-Villars & Co. 1922
References
- Becquerel, M. Henri (1881). "XLI. Experimental investigations on magnetic rotatory polarization in gases". The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 12 (76): 309–324. doi:10.1080/14786448108627115. ISSN 1941-5982.
- Becquerel, Jean (1908). "X. On the dispersion of magnetic rotatory power in the neighbourhood of bands of absorption in the case of rare earths. Remarks on the subject of recent communications by Prof. R. W. Wood and Mr. G. J. Elias". The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 16 (91): 153–161. doi:10.1080/14786440708636496. ISSN 1941-5982.
- Nye, Mary Jo (1980). "N-Rays: An Episode in the History and Psychology of Science". Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences. 11 (1): 125–156. doi:10.2307/27757473. ISSN 0073-2672. JSTOR 27757473.
- Broglie, Louis de (1963). "Notice sur la vie et l'oeuvre de Jean Becquerel" (PDF). Académie des Sciences. Notices et discours (in French). Palais de l'Institut. 5: 1–20.