Collège de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris, France
Maurice de Broglie studied under Paul Langevin at the Collège de France in Paris. In 1908, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree, writing a thesis on ionic mobilities.
Career
Achievements
Membership
French Academy of Sciences
1924
Institut de France, 23 Quai de Conti, 75270 Paris, France
Maurice de Broglie became a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1924.
In 1934 Louis-César-Victor-Maurice de Broglie was elected to the Académie française, replacing the historian Pierre de La Gorce.
Russian Academy of Sciences
1927
Russian Academy of Sciences, 14, Leninsky prospekt, 119991 Moscow, Russia
In 1927, Maurice de Broglie became a Foreign Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (now Russian Academy of Sciences).
Académie française
1934
Institut de France, 23 Quai de Conti, 75270 Paris, France
Maurice de Broglie became a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1924.
In 1934 Louis-César-Victor-Maurice de Broglie was elected to the Académie française, replacing the historian Pierre de La Gorce.
Royal Society
1940
Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AG, United Kingdom
On May 23, 1940, Maurice de Broglie became a foreign member of Britain’s Royal Society.
Awards
Institute of Physics Michael Faraday Medal and Prize
Institute of Physics (IOP), 37 Caledonian Rd, Islington, London N1 9BU, United Kingdom
In 1924, Louis-César-Victor-Maurice de Broglie received the Michael Faraday Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics.
Hughes Medal
Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AG, United Kingdom
In 1928, Maurice de Broglie was awarded the Hughes Medal by the Royal Society of London.
Legion of Honour
France
In 1954, Louis-César-Victor-Maurice de Broglie was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour.
Institut de France, 23 Quai de Conti, 75270 Paris, France
Maurice de Broglie became a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 1924.
In 1934 Louis-César-Victor-Maurice de Broglie was elected to the Académie française, replacing the historian Pierre de La Gorce.
Collège de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris, France
Maurice de Broglie studied under Paul Langevin at the Collège de France in Paris. In 1908, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree, writing a thesis on ionic mobilities.
Louis-César-Victor-Maurice, 6th duc de Broglie, was a French physicist, who made many contributions to the study of X rays. He improved the accuracy of X-ray spectrography by introducing the rotating crystal method and used X-ray techniques to measure the forces binding various groups of electrons to the atomic nucleus.
Background
Ethnicity:
The de Broglies were descended from a noble Piedmontese family.
Maurice de Broglie was born on April 27, 1875, in Paris, France, the son of Victor de Broglie, an aristocrat, and Pauline de la Forest d'Armaillé.
Education
Having graduated from naval officer's school, Maurice de Broglie spent nine years in the French Navy, serving on a gunboat at Bizerte and in the Mediterranean Squadron. While serving, he became interested in physics, and began doing research on electromagnetism.
De Broglie defied his family's wishes and left the navy in 1904 to pursue a scientific career. He studied under Paul Langevin at the Collège de France in Paris. In 1908, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree, writing a thesis on ionic mobilities.
In 1908, Maurice de Broglie built an extensive private laboratory in his family mansion on rue Châteaubriand and became the French scientist to work with X-ray diffraction. Through these experiments, he invented x-ray spectroscopy using his "method of the rotating crystal."
He turned a single crystal on a vertical axis at 2 degrees per hour, by mounting it upon the on the clockwork mechanism of a recording barometer. Throughout this rotation of the crystal, information on the x-ray energies was recorded on a photographic plate for all angles between the incident beam and the diffraction planes.
The x-ray line spectrum thus produced showed sharp and diffuse lines and bands. In particular, two of the absorption bands proved to be the K edges of silver and bromine in the photographic emulsion. This was the first observation of an absorption edge, though some further experiments were required to correctly interpret the absorption edges.
Meanwhile, in England, a young physicist, H.G.J. Moseley, was also working to determine the X-ray spectra of the elements. Whereas de Broglie style made exhaustive careful measurements of the spectrum of one element at a time, Moseley quickly surveyed many elements. Across the wider range of information Moseley produced, certain consistencies supported the controversial, new model of the atom presented by Niels Bohr.
Following the outbreak of World War I, both saw action. Moseley died in the battle of Gallipoli. Although de Broglie survived, during the war years, his work had been superseded by Sweden scientists (whose country was neutral in World War I).
After the war, de Broglie continued working on X-ray diffraction and X-ray spectroscopy at the laboratory in his home where he brought together a large group of young scientists. These co-workers, who made major contributions, included Alexandre Dauvillier, Louis Leprince-Ringuet, Jean Thibaud, and Jean-Jacques Trillat.
Maurice de Broglie thus set a precedent of scientific work in the de Broglie family, which was followed by his younger brother, Louis. Louis had intended to study history like his grandfather, Jacques. However, during World War I, he studied as a radio operator in the navy and his interests turned to physics under Maurice's influence, and the brothers did some research together. They soon published a paper on x-ray spectroscopy together in 1921.
Maurice de Broglie continued his own scientific research and did further pioneer work in nuclear physics and cosmic radiation.
Maurice de Broglie was a member of the French Atomic Energy Commission, the Académie de Marine, and the Institut Océanographique.
French Academy of Sciences
,
France
1924
Russian Academy of Sciences
,
Russia
1927
Académie française
,
France
1934
Royal Society
,
United Kingdom
1940
Connections
In 1901, Maurice de Broglie married Camille Bernou de Rochetaillée in Paris. They had one daughter, Laure, born on November 17, 1904, who died, aged six.
Father:
Louis-Alphonse-Victor de Broglie
Mother:
Pauline Celestine Louise de Broglie (de La Forest d'Armaillé)