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Visualizing Radiation: The Photographs of Henri Becquerel

This chapter addresses the virtually unknown photographic work that won Henri Becquerel the joint Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie in 1903. Becquerel’s photographic methods were some of the most advanced in 1890, but his contribution to the use of photography in radiation studies and magneto-optics has largely been forgotten, barring one much-reproduced image, and few examples of his photographic work remain. After extensive research of his life, experiments and the few remaining photographs, it is clear that he is one of the pioneers of the use of photographic methods in the sciences. The chapter takes Becquerel’s photographic practice as a prism through which to examine photographic observation in late Nineteenth century calling into question the usual dichotomy of passive observation versus active experiment when photography is employed by scientists. The chapter, published in a rigorously peer reviewed volume by a top University Press, is the product of three years of intensive research and collaboration by the group of authors on the subject of observation, a fundamental but less theorized scientific practice. The volume opens up a new area of research by historicizing observational practice in the sciences. Hailed as a ‘key text in the history of science’ (Endeavour, 35:4, 2011) the volume has been well regarded in reviews ranging from the Times Literary Supplement (Dec. 16, 2011) to Technology and Culture (53:1, January 2012) and American Scientist (99:4, July-August 2011).