Henri+Becquerel;

Basile; Eastman; Johnson;

Name: Antoine Henri Becquerel Birth: December 15, 1852 Death: August 25, 1908 Country of Origin: Paris, France
 * Date of Discovery: 1896**

Henri Becquerel was born in Paris to a family of scholars and scientists. Becquerel attended the Ecole Polytechnique to study science and then studied engineering at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees. He became the chair of Physics at Ecole Polytechnique after his father’s death. Becquerel’s expertise with phosphorescent materials, photography, labratories, and his familiartiy with Uranium compounds all played a role in his discovery of radiation. Shortly after Roentgen’s discovery of x-rays, Becquerel performed an experiment in which he left a piece of Uranium resting on a photographic plate in his desk drawer. When Becquerel checked on the plate later, it had marks on it that would indicate exposure to light and through this, radiation was discovered.