Becquerel

[ bek-uh-rel; French bekuh-rel ]

noun

1. A·lex·an·dre Ed·mond [a, -lek-, sahn, -d, r, uh, ed-, mawn], 1820–91, French physicist (son of Antoine César).
2. An·toine Cé·sar [ah, n, -, twan, sey-, zar], 1788–1878, French physicist.
3. An·toine Hen·ri [ah, n, -, twan, ah, n, -, ree], 1852–1908, French physicist (son of Alexandre Edmond): Nobel Prize 1903.

becquerel

¹

/ ˌbɛkəˈrɛl /

noun

1. the derived SI unit of radioactivity equal to one disintegration per second Bq

Becquerel

²

/ bɛkrɛl /

noun

1. BecquerelAntoine Henri18521908MFrenchSCIENCE: physicist Antoine Henri (ɑ̃twan ɑ̃ri). 1852–1908, French physicist, who discovered the photographic action of the rays emitted by uranium salts and so instigated the study of radioactivity: Nobel prize for physics 1903

becquerel

¹

/ bĕ-krĕl′,bĕk′ə-rĕl′ /

1. The SI derived unit used to measure the rate of radioactive decay. When the nucleus of an atom emits nucleons (protons and/or neutrons) and is thereby transformed into a different nucleus, decay has occurred. A decay rate of one becquerel for a given quantity means there is one such atomic transformation per second.

Becquerel

²

1. Family of French physicists, including Antoine César (1788–1878), one of the founders of the science of electrochemistry; his son Alexandre Edmond (1820–1891), noted for his research on phosphorescence, magnetism, electricity, and optics; and his grandson Antoine Henri (1852–1908), who discovered spontaneous radioactivity in uranium. Antoine Henri Becquerel's work led to the discovery of radium by Marie and Pierre Curie, with whom he shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for physics.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Becquerel¹

C20: named after Antoine Henri Becquerel

Example Sentences

It began with the discovery of radioactivity in 1896 by the French physicist Henri Becquerel.

From Salon

She wanted to explore radioactivity, which had just been discovered by Henri Becquerel, in 1896.

From Nature

Considering the importance of what he had found, Becquerel did a very strange thing: he turned the matter over to a graduate student for investigation.

From Literature

In 1903, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics alongside Pierre and Henri Becquerel.

From BBC

The achievements of a list of notables — from Wilhelm Rontgen to Henri Becquerel to Pierre and Marie Curie, for example — are condensed to a few pages.

From Washington Post