Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and the first person to discover evidence of radioactivity. See what you can discover about him in this quiz.

1. Bequerel studied radioactivity, which is when very small particles in objects emit:

  • Radio waves
  • Energy
  • Light
  • Oxygen

2. For his work in this field, he won a the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with:

  • Albert Einstein
  • Wilhelm Roentgen
  • Guglielmo Marconi
  • Pierre and Marie Curie

3. What is named after him?

  • The unit for radioactivity
  • A French university
  • Uranium salts
  • A delicious sauce

4. Bequerel’s discovery of radioactivity has been called a famous example of “how chance favors the prepared mind,” also known as:

  • Karma
  • Lepidoptery
  • Serendipity
  • Specificity

5. Bequerel also lends his name to:

  • Craters on the moon and Mars
  • A science medal
  • A medical procedure
  • An imaging device

6. When Bequerel put different radioactive substances in a magnetic field, they deflected in different directions or not at all, showing that there were three classes of radioactivity:

  • Hot, warm, and cold
  • Reduced, enlarged, analytic
  • Freshman, sophomore, junior
  • Negative, positive, and electrically neutral

1)Energy  2)Pierre and Marie Curie  3)The unit for radioactivity  4)Serendipity  5)Craters on the moon and Mars  6)Negative, positive, and electrically neutral