Antoine Henri Becquerel

Awards & Honours

Awards Won

Honours

Records

Becquerel's greatest accolade is the Nobel Prize, but his name is immortalized in the becquerel unit. He was also a member of the French Academy of Sciences and several foreign academies. His discovery is considered one of the most important in physics, leading to nuclear energy and medical imaging.

Antoine Henri Becquerel receiving an award

AwardsBecquerel received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Marie and Pierre Curie for his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity. He was also awarded the Rumford Medal by the Royal Society in 1900. The SI unit becquerel is named after him.

Honours & Distinctions

Nobel Prize in Physics

Nobel Foundation·1903

Awarded jointly with Marie and Pierre Curie for the discovery of radioactivity.

Rumford Medal

Royal Society·1900

Awarded for his discovery of radioactivity.

SI Unit Named After

International System of Units·1975

The becquerel (Bq) was adopted as the SI unit of radioactivity.

Records & Feats

First to discover spontaneous radioactivity

Historic First·1896

In 1896, Becquerel was the first person to observe that uranium salts emit radiation without external excitation.