Antonie Henri Becquerel

Antoine Henri Becquerel was a French physicist who discovered radioactivity in 1896. He found that uranium salts emitted energy without any external light source, a phenomenon later called radioactivity. This discovery revealed that atoms could spontaneously break down, releasing energy and particles, fundamentally changing our understanding of matter. Becquerel’s work laid the groundwork for future research by scientists like Marie and Pierre Curie and earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903, shared with the Curies. His findings have had profound impacts on science, medicine, and energy, advancing our knowledge of atomic structure and radioactive materials.