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Jean Baptiste Perrin (; 30 September 1870 – 17 April 1942) was a French atomic physicist who, in his studies of the Brownian motion of minute particles suspended in liquids (sedimentation equilibrium), verified Albert Einstein's explanation of this phenomenon and thereby confirmed the nature of matter. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1926.
In 1901, Perrin proposed a hypothesis that each atom has a positively charged Atomic nucleus, similarly to Hantaro Nagaoka later, but never developed it further. It came to be known the Rutherford model.
By the mid-1900s, Perrin was interested in statistical mechanics questions, which are close to the study of Brownian motion. Following Albert Einstein's publication (1905) of a theoretical explanation of Brownian motion in terms of atoms, Perrin (along with Joseph Ulysses Chaudesaigues who was working in Perrin's lab) did the experimental work to test and verify Einstein's predictions, thereby providing data that would settle the century-long dispute about John Dalton's atomic theory, before the end of the decade. Carl Benedicks argued Perrin should receive the Nobel Prize in Physics; Perrin received the prize in 1926 for this and other work on the discontinuous structure of matter, which put a definite end to the long struggle regarding the question of the physical reality of molecules.
Perrin was the author of a number of books and dissertations. Most notable of his publications were: "Rayons cathodiques et rayons X"; "Les Principes"; "Electrisation de contact"; "Réalité moléculaire"; "Matière et Lumière"; "Lumière et Reaction chimique".
Perrin was also the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Joule Prize of the Royal Society in 1896 and the La Caze Prize of the French Academy of Sciences. He was twice appointed a member of the Solvay Committee at Brussels in 1911 and in 1921. He also held memberships with the Royal Society of London and with the Academies of Sciences of Belgium, Sweden, Turin, Prague, Romania and China. He became a Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1926 and was made Commander of the Order of Léopold (Belgium).
In 1919, Perrin proposed that can provide the source of energy in stars. He realized that the mass of a helium atom is less than that of four atoms of hydrogen, and that the mass-energy equivalence of Einstein implies that the nuclear fusion (4 H → He) could liberate sufficient energy to make stars shine for billions of years. Why the Stars Shine D.Selle, Guidestar (Houston Astronomical Society), October 2012, pp. 6–8 A similar theory was first proposed by American chemist William Draper Harkins in 1915. It remained for Hans Bethe and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker to determine the detailed mechanism of stellar nucleosynthesis during the 1930s. John North, Cosmos: An Illustrated History of Astronomy and Cosmology (University of Chicago Press, p. 545)
In 1927, Perrin founded the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique together with chemist André Job and physiologist André Mayer. Funding was provided by Edmond James de Rothschild. In 1937, Perrin established the Palais de la Découverte, a science museum in Paris.
Perrin is considered the founding father of the National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)). Following a petition by Perrin signed by over 80 scientists, among them eight Nobel Prize laureates, the French education minister set up the Conseil Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique (French National Research Council) in April 1933. In 1936, Perrin, now an undersecretary for research, founded the Service Central de la Recherche Scientifique (French Central Agency for Scientific Research). Both institutions were merged under the CNRS umbrella on 19 October 1939.
In 1897, Perrin married Henriette Duportal (1869–1938), with whom he had a son, Francis, who later became a physicist..
After Henriette's death in 1938, Nine Choucroun became Perrin's partner. In June 1940, when the Germans invaded France, he and Choucroun escaped to Casablanca on the ocean liner Massilia, with part of the French government. In December 1941, they boarded the SS Excambion to New York City, arriving on 23 December.Diane Dosso, " Le plan de sauvetage des scientifiques français, New York, 1940–1942 ", Revue de synthèse, Vol. 127, Nr. 2, octobre 2006, pp. 429–451
Perrin died on 17 April 1942 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City at the age of 71.
After the War, in 1948, his remains were transported back to France by the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc and are buried in the Panthéon.
Personal life and death
Perrin was an atheist and a socialist. He was an officer in the Engineer Corps during World War I. In 1915, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Directorate of Inventions for National Defense, which aimed to coordinate French laboratories in the war effort.
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Categories: 1870 Births, 1942 Deaths, 20th-century French Chemists, 20th-century French Physicists, Burials At The Panthéon, Paris, Foreign Members Of The Royal Society, French Atheists, French Socialists, Commanders Of The Legion Of Honour, Nobel Laureates In Physics, French Nobel Laureates, University Of Paris Alumni, Members Of The French Academy Of Sciences, Corresponding Members Of The Russian Academy Of Sciences, Corresponding Members Of The Ussr Academy Of Sciences, Honorary Members Of The Ussr Academy Of Sciences, French Theoretical Physicists, French Physical Chemists, French National Centre For Scientific Research Scientists, Recipients Of The Matteucci Medal, 19th-century French Physicists, Presidents Of The Société Française De Physique
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