Biography

Louis de Broglie was born August 15, 1892, in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France. Louis de Broglie was born
of a noble family and became the 7th duc de Broglie. De Broglie attended the University of Paris and
initially wanted a career in the humanities. He had in the process, received his first degree in history. He
however, changed his interests and started to like mathematics and physics. De Broglie later received a
degree in physics in 1913. During the First World War, he was part of the French Army as a radio
communications developer. After that, he aimed for his Ph.D. The main idea behind his thesis was that
any moving particle or object has an associated wave. His Ph.D. thesis made him well known as scientist
and even garnered praise from Albert Einstein due to the fact that he explained the atom using ideas
that traditionalists could accept. This thesis won him a Nobel Prize in Physics. Later in his career, he
created an interpretation of quantum mechanics known as the de Broglie-Bohm Theory. Over the next
ten years, he continued to do research and gain accomplishments including the inaugural Kalinga Prize
and becoming a Knight of the Grand Cross. De Broglie eventually died on March 19, 1897, aged 94 in the
city of Louvenciennes, France. He died without marrying.

The effect of his contributions

Louis de Broglie’s hypothesis that every moving particle is associated with a wavelength is really
important in physics. Before his idea, many people had ideas and formulae that worked, but they did
not understand how they worked. After de Broglie’s thesis, these ideas and formulae could be
understood. A good example of this is Bohr’s Atomic Model. De Broglie’s hypothesis was also crucial in
establishing the quantum mechanical model by Schrodinger and Heisenberg.

De Broglie’s hypothesis of an electron wavelength is also pivotal to electron microscopes. Electron

microscopes are used to see objects smaller than the wavelength of the waves that are being used to
illuminate it, unlike compound microscopes. Since electrons have a short wavelength compared to
photons, the electron microscope can see smaller things with generally high resolution when compared
to the compound microscope.

Overall, what we can see is that de Broglie and his hypothesis have advanced atomic theory and
deepened our knowledge of matter. We have also seen that his idea of the electron wavelength is also
used actively in present day science in the form of the electron microscope. Thus, it is imperative that
we recognize him for his work because without him, our knowledge of atoms and matter would be
much less than it is right now.