Edmond Becquerel
Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel (lang; 24 March 1820 – 11 May 1891) was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity, and optics. In 1839, he discovered the photovoltaic effect, the operating principle of the solar cell, which he invented in the same year. He is also known for his work in luminescence and phosphorescence.
Also recorded as Alexandre Edmont Becquerel · Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel · E. Becquerel
Edmond Becquerel

Nadar · This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b53100803v · Public domain
- Name
- Edmond Becquerel
- Birth Name
- Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel
- Born
- 24 March 1820
- Birthplace
- Paris, Kingdom of France
- Died
- 11 May 1891
- Place of death
- Paris, French Republic
- Known for
- * Discovering the photovoltaic effect (1839)
- Full name
- Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- physicist, photographer, university teacher and chemist.
- Fields
- physics.
- Honours
- Commander of the Legion of Honour, Foreign Member of the Royal Society, honorary member of the Physics Association (Frankfurt am Main and Germany).
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Edmond Becquerel. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q315048 · wikipedia · Edmond Becquerel
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
Statements marked “Documentary record” are set in the article beside the passage they confirm. Each is read from the authority records of the institutions named here; select “Prove” to see the record it was read from, where in that record, and when.
Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
He was the son of Antoine César Becquerel and the father of Henri Becquerel, the discoverer of radioactivity.
The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is physics. Employment is recorded with Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Positions recorded include president and president of the French Academy of Sciences. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Legion of Honour, Foreign Member of the Royal Society and honorary member of the Physics Association (Frankfurt am Main, Germany).
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Edmond Becquerel • Birth Name — Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel • Born — 24 March 1820 • Birthplace — Paris, Kingdom of France • Died — 11 May 1891 • Place of death — Paris, French Republic • Known for — * Discovering the photovoltaic effect (1839) • Discovering thermionic emission (1853) • Children — Henri Becquerel • Father — Antoine César Becquerel • Fields — Physics • Thesis Title — Des effets chimiques et électriques produits sous l'influence de la lumière solaire • Thesis Url — https: patrimoine.sorbonne-universite.fr/idurl/1/1647 • Thesis Year — 1840 • Workplaces — * Conservatoire des arts et métiers (1853–1891) • Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (until 1891)
Documentary record
Edmond Becquerel appears in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek as a physicist (24 March 1820 – 11 May 1891). Edmond Becquerel was born in Paris (24 March 1820) and died in Paris (11 May 1891).
Biography
Biography
Born in Paris, Becquerel was the pupil-turned-successor of his father at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. He was also appointed professor at the short-lived Agronomic Institute in Versailles in 1849, and in 1853, received the Chair of Physics at the Conservatoire des arts et métiers. He was associated with his father in much of his work.
The first photovoltaic device
The first photovoltaic device
In 1839, at age 19, while experimenting in his father's laboratory, Becquerel created the world's first photovoltaic cell. In this experiment, he placed silver chloride in an acidic solution and illuminated it while it was connected to platinum electrodes, thus generating voltage and current. Because of this work, the photovoltaic effect has also been known as the "Becquerel effect".
Other studies
Other studies
Becquerel paid special attention to the study of light, investigating the photochemical effects and spectroscopic characters of solar radiation and the electric arc light, and the phenomena of phosphorescence, particularly as displayed by the sulfides and by compounds of uranium. It was in connection with these latter inquiries that he devised his phosphoroscope, an apparatus which enabled the interval between exposure to the source of light and observation of the resulting effects to be varied at will and accurately measured. He investigated the diamagnetic and paramagnetic properties of substances and was keenly interested in the phenomena of electrochemical decomposition, accumulating much evidence in favor of Faraday's law of electrolysis and proposing a modified statement of it which was intended to cover certain apparent exceptions. In 1853, Becquerel discovered thermionic emission.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
Edmond Becquerel was recorded at birth as Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel. The authorities additionally record the headings Alexandre Edmont Becquerel, Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel and E. His recorded language was French. He was the child of Antoine César Becquerel. One child is recorded: Antoine Henri Becquerel.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Edmond Becquerel worked in physics. He was employed by Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. Recorded positions include president and president of the French Academy of Sciences. He belonged to Royal Society, Société Philomathique de Paris, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Sciences and Société héliographique.
Identity
Identity
Edmond Becquerel is recorded as having received Commander of the Legion of Honour, Foreign Member of the Royal Society and honorary member of the Physics Association (Frankfurt am Main, Germany). Recognition and collections. Becquerel received Commander of the Legion of Honour, Foreign Member of the Royal Society and honorary member of the Physics Association (Frankfurt am Main, Germany).
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1820
Edmond Becquerel born at former 1st arrondissement of Paris.
1891
Edmond Becquerel died at Paris.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
former 1st arrondissement of Paris.
Birth place
Paris.
Death place
Publications
In 1867 and 1868 Becquerel published La lumière, ses causes et ses effets (Light, its Causes and Effects), a two-volume treatise which became a standard text. His many papers, essays, and commentaries appeared in French scientific journals, mainly the French Academy of Sciences' widely distributed Comptes Rendus, from 1839 until shortly before his death in 1891.
Photographic discoveries
Becquerel was an early experimenter in photography. In 1840, he discovered that the silver halides, natively insensitive to red and yellow light, became sensitive to that part of the spectrum in proportion to their exposure to blue, violet and ultraviolet light, allowing daguerreotypes and other photographic materials to be developed by bathing in strong red or yellow light rather than by chemical treatment. In practice this technique was rarely used. In 1848 he produced color photographs of the solar spectrum, and also of camera images, by a technique later found to be akin to the Lippmann interference method, but the camera exposures required were impractically long and the images could not be stabilized, their colors persisting only if kept in total darkness, however this work is based on the discoveries of J. T. Seebeck prior to 1810.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q315048: Edmond Becquerel
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Edmond Becquerel”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Edmond Becquerel, Physics Today, 2016
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2016
Honors and awards
Becquerel was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1886. The Becquerel Prize for "outstanding merit in photovoltaics" is awarded annually at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC).
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Edmond Becquerel, revision 1371988588 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Molecular Expressions: Science, Optics and You - Timeline - Alexandre Edmond Becquerel. micro.magnet.fsu.edu.
- 2.R. Williams. Becquerel Photovoltaic Effect in Binary Compounds. The Journal of Chemical Physics. 32. 5. 1505–1514. 1960. 10.1063/1.1730950.
- 3.E. Becquerel. Mémoire sur les effets électriques produits sous l'influence des rayons solaires. Comptes Rendus. 9. 561–567. 1839.
- 4.Edmond Becquerel: The Man Behind Solar Panels. solenergy.com.ph.
- 5.E. Becquerel (1840). "Mémoire sur le rayonnement chimique qui accompagne la lumière solaire et la lumière électrique", Comptes Rendus 11:702–703.
- 6.E. Becquerel (1848). "L'image photographique colorée du spectre solaire", Comptes Rendus 26:181–183.
- 7.Wall, E. J. (Edward John). Practical color photography. Boston, Mass., American Photographic Publishing Co. 200. 1922.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- A. Allisy. Henri Becquerel: The Discovery of Radioactivity. Radiation Protection Dosimetry. 68. 1. 3–10. 1 November 1996. 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a031848.
- 3. 611.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Edmond Becquerel, Physics Today, 2016Crossref registry
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Died at
1- ParisPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Photography
11,392 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Edith MaybinPhotographer
- Edith RimmingtonPhotographer
- Edith Tudor-HartPhotographer
- Edith WatsonPhotographer
- Edmond BehlesPhotographer
- Edmond DesbonnetPhotographer
- Edmonde Charles-RouxPhotographer
- Edmund AbakaPhotographer
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Edmond Becquerel?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.