Jean Perrin
| Jean Baptiste Perrin | |
|---|---|
Perrin in 1926
|
|
| Born |
30 September 1870 Lille, France |
| Died | 17 April 1942 (aged 71) New York City, USA |
| Nationality | France |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
École Normale Supérieure University of Paris |
| Alma mater |
École Normale Supérieure University of Paris |
| Known for | Nature of cathode rays Brownian motion |
| Notable awards |
Matteucci Medal (1911) Nobel Prize in Physics (1926) |
Jean Baptiste Perrin ForMemRS (30 September 1870 – 17 April 1942) was a French physicist who, in his studies of the Brownian motion of minute particles suspended in liquids, verified Albert Einstein’s explanation of this phenomenon and thereby confirmed the atomic nature of matter (sedimentation equilibrium). For this achievement he was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1926.
Born in Lille, France, Perrin attended the École Normale Supérieure, the elite grande école in Paris. He became an assistant at the school during the period of 1894–97 when he began the study of cathode rays and X-rays. He was awarded the degree of docteur ès sciences (PhD) in 1897. In the same year he was appointed as a lecturer in physical chemistry at the Sorbonne, Paris. He became a professor at the University in 1910, holding this post until the German occupation of France during World War II.
In 1895, Perrin showed that cathode rays were of negative electric charge in nature. He determined Avogadro's number (now known as the Avogadro constant) by several methods. He explained solar energy as due to the thermonuclear reactions of hydrogen.
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