Physics: 1929

De Broglie, Louis Victor, pronounced duh braw GLEE, lwee veek TAWR (1892-1987), was a French physicist who won the 1929 Nobel Prize in physics for his theory of the wave nature of electrons. This theory became one of the foundations of quantum mechanics, a field of physics.

In the 1800's, physicists believed that light consisted of waves of energy. They also thought that all matter was composed of tiny particles that combined in various ways to make up the material world. In the early 1900's, physicists showed that light behaved like particles when emitted or absorbed. These particles of light were called quanta. In 1924, de Broglie proposed that, under certain conditions, electrons have characteristics of both particles and waves, as do quanta of light. His theory of matter waves was later verified by experiments.

De Broglie was born in Dieppe, France, and studied at the Sorbonne. He joined the faculty of the University of Paris in 1932.

Contributor: Richard L. Hilt, Ph.D., Professor of Physics, Colorado College.