What is Henri Becquerel?
{{Infobox person |name = Antoine Henri Becquerel |image = Paul Nadar - Henri Becquerel.jpg |image_size = 250px |caption = |birth_name = |birth_date = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1852|12|15}} |birth_place = [[Paris]], [[France]] |death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1908|8|25|1852|12|15}} | death_place = [[Le Croisic]], [[France]] |occupation = [[Physics|Physicist]] | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in [[1903]] }} '''Antoine Henri Becquerel''' (15 December 1852 – 25 August 1908) was a [[France|French]] [[physicist]]. He was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1903 with [[Marie Curie]] and [[Pierre Curie]] for his discovery of [[radioactivity]] in 1896.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 |first= |last= |work=nobelprize.org |year=2011 |accessdate=March 23, 2011}}</ref> This happened when a piece of [[pitchblende]] ruined some [[photographic film]] and he investigated. Other scientists had seen film similarly ruined but did not discover why. The [[SI]] unit ''[[becquerel]]'' named after him. One becquerel (Bq) is equal to one [[radioactive decay]] process per second. He was the third person in his family to occupy the physics chair at the [[Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle]]. ==Biography== Becquerel was a scientist born in Paris on December 15, 1852. He came from a family from well-known scientists. His father and grandfather were also scientists who studied things like light and metals. His father, Alexander Edmond Bequerel, for instance had done research on [[phosphorescence]] and [[Sunlight|solar radiation]]. In his education, Becquerel studied about science and engineering. In 1878, he became an assistant in the Museum of Natural History and later chair in applied physics, previously held by his father, at the ''Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers''. As an engineer, Becquerel was promoted engineer-in-chief at the Department of Bridges and Highways in 18