Becquerel, ANTOINE CÉSAR

Becquerel, ANTOINE CÉSAR, a distinguished French physicist, was born in 1788, at Châtillon-sur-Loing, in the department of Loiret. In 1808 he entered the French army as an officer of engineers, and served with distinction in Spain. On his return to France, he was appointed inspector of the École Polytechnique; was attached to the general staff of the army in 1814, but at the peace of 1815 retired from the service. His researches and discoveries were mainly in the fields of electricity and magnetism, and he may fairly be regarded as one of the creators of electro-chemistry. His labours in this branch of science opened to him in 1829 the doors of the Académie des Sciences. Among his works were the Traité de l'Électricité et du Magnétisme (7 vols. 1834-40); Éléments d'Électrochimie (1843); Traité de Physique; Éléments de Physique terrestre et de Météorologie (1847). He died on the 19th January 1878.—His son, ALEXANDRE EDMOND, also an eminent physicist, was born at Paris, 24th March 1820. He was decorated with the cross of the Legion of Honour in 1851; and was appointed professor of Physics in the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, in 1853. He died 13th May 1891. Besides his conjoint labours with his father, he made important researches on light, on phosphorescence, and on the conductivity and magnetic properties of many substances. His best-known work is La Lumière, ses Causes et ses Effets (1868).