Antoine-César Becquerel

1788-1878

Physicist born in Châtillon-Coligny.

After studies at the Polytechnique, Becquerel became an officer in the engineer corps. He left the service in 1815 and devoted himself to scientific work, becoming a member of the Académie des Sciences in 1829.

His work included the application of electrochemistry to the arts, the first notions of electric batteries and improving the soil of Sologne. But this Nobel prize-winning physicist's most notable discovery was the radioactivity of uranium..