Who is de broglie and what did he do

Work In the beginning of the 20th century, quantum physics evolved from the idea that energy is conveyed in only certain fixed amounts. Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page. Nobel Prizes Thirteen laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in , for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. From history he shifted to law with a view to make a career in the civil service. At the age of 18 he graduated with an arts degree.

He was then assigned a research topic in history of his choice. But he did not complete his research in history. Instead he decided to study theoretical physics, a subject he chose to devote his life to. In choosing theoretical physics as a career, he was also influenced by his elder brother Maurice, who was also a physicist and made notable contributions to the experimental study of the atomic nucleus. Maurice kept a well-equipped laboratory at the family mansion in Paris. However, his journey in theoretical physics was not very smooth.

The course was based on standard subject like mechanics and wave optics. Books on these topics were also not available in French. French translations of foreign textbooks were often of poor quality.

In his initial years he passed through emotional and psychological problems. Apparently this was triggered by the marriage of his elder sister Princess Pauline, to him he was deeply attached. Princess Pauline was 20 years older than de Broglie.

After her marriage de Broglie lost her youthful personality full of gaiety and spirits. He lost an examination in general physics. Following these developments when his self-confidence at its lowest, he chanced upon reading the report of the first Solvay Conference on quantum theory.

At the end of reading this report in depth he was confident that theoretical physics would be his career. In de Broglie obtained a science degree. After attaining the required age, he had to join the military service as it was mandatory for everyone in France.

He had to stay in army for six years as the First World War broke out. Initially he was sent to the fort at Mont Valerien, where he had nothing much to do and it was a very difficult situation for him. However, his brother exerting his influences got him transferred to the radiotelegraphy section situated at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, on which a radio transmitter had been installed.

De Broglie served as telegraph operator. Other honours which he received included the Kalinga Prize which was awarded to him by UNESCO in for his efforts towards the understanding of modern physics by the general public. He was elected to honorary membership of eighteen academies and learned societies in Europe, India, and the United States.

De Broglie described himself as The central question in de Broglie's life was whether the statistical nature of atomic physics reflects an ignorance of the underlying theory or whether statistics is all that can be known. For most of his life he believed the former although as a young researcher he had at first believed that the statistics hide our ignorance.

Perhaps surprisingly, he returned to this view late in his life stating that Let us end our biography with the tribute paid to de Broglie by C W Oseen, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences :- When quite young you threw yourself into the controversy raging round the most profound problem in physics.

You had the boldness to assert, without the support of any known fact, that matter had not only a corpuscular nature, but also a wave nature. Experiment came later and established the correctness of your view. You have covered in fresh glory a name already crowned for centuries with honour. References show. Perhaps because he was not inclined to encourage an interactive atmosphere in his lectures, he had no noted record of guiding young research students.

In , at the age of thirty-seven, de Broglie was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in recognition of his contribution to wave mechanics. He was elected to the prestigious Academie Francaise in and, in the following year, was appointed a counsellor to the French High Commission of Atomic Energy with his brother Maurice in recognition of their work promoting the peaceful development of nuclear energy and their efforts to bridge the gap between science and industry.

Three years later, de Broglie was elected to the National Academy of the United States as a foreign member. During his long career, de Broglie published over twenty books and numerous research papers. His preoccupation with the practical side of physics is demonstrated in his works dealing with cybernetics, atomic energy, particle accelerators, and wave-guides.

His writings also include works on X rays, gamma rays, atomic particles, optics, and a history of the development of contemporary physics. He served as honorary president of the French Association of Science Writers and, in , was awarded first prize for excellence in science writing by the Kalinga Foundation.

In , de Broglie was elected to London's Royal Society as a foreign member and, in , to the French Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of his formidable output. With the death of his older brother Maurice two years later, de Broglie inherited the joint titles of French duke and German prince. De Broglie died of natural causes on March 19, , at the age of ninety-five, having never fully resolved the controversy surrounding his theories of wave mechanics.

Heathcote, Niels H. Weber, Robert L. All rights reserved.