PHYSICIST

Paul Langevin

1872 - 1946

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Paul Langevin (23 January 1872 – 19 December 1946) was a French physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation. He was one of the founders of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an anti-fascist organization created after the 6 February 1934 far right riots. Being a public opponent of fascism in the 1930s resulted in his arrest and being held under house arrest by the Vichy government for most of World War II. Langevin was also president of the Human Rights League (LDH) from 1944 to 1946, having recently joined the French Communist Party. He was a doctoral student of Pierre Curie and later a lover of widowed Marie Curie. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Paul Langevin is the 167th most popular physicist (down from 117th in 2019), the 568th most popular biography from France (down from 504th in 2019) and the 20th most popular French Physicist.

Paul Langevin is most famous for his work in the field of quantum mechanics. He was one of the first people to propose a solution to the wave-particle duality paradox, which is the idea that light can behave as both a particle and a wave.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Paul Langevin ranks 167 out of 851. Before him are Joseph Henry, Hippolyte Fizeau, Augustin-Jean Fresnel, Georges Charpak, Gerd Binnig, and Ernst Abbe. After him are Hideki Yukawa, François Englert, George E. Smith, Polykarp Kusch, Edmond Becquerel, and Martinus J. G. Veltman.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1872, Paul Langevin ranks 14. Before him are Calvin Coolidge, Charles Greeley Abbot, Johan Huizinga, Edith Wilson, Emil Hácha, and Léon Blum. After him are Anton Denikin, Marcel Mauss, Djemal Pasha, Maurice Gamelin, Sergei Diaghilev, and Louis Blériot. Among people deceased in 1946, Paul Langevin ranks 26. Before him are Werner von Blomberg, Fritz Sauckel, Gertrude Stein, Karl Haushofer, Draža Mihailović, and Ferenc Szálasi. After him are Gilbert N. Lewis, James Jeans, Ananda Mahidol, Karl Hermann Frank, Andrey Vlasov, and Kurt Daluege.

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In France

Among people born in France, Paul Langevin ranks 568 out of 6,770. Before him are Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (1947), Henri, Count of Chambord (1820), François Jacob (1920), Hilary of Poitiers (315), Joseph de Maistre (1753), and Maurice Allais (1911). After him are Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882), Theuderic I (485), Henry I, Duke of Guise (1550), Richard Clayderman (1953), Marcel Marceau (1923), and Hippolyte Taine (1828).

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Among PHYSICISTS In France

Among physicists born in France, Paul Langevin ranks 20. Before him are Hans Bethe (1906), Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron (1799), Louis Néel (1904), Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774), Hippolyte Fizeau (1819), and Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788). After him are Edmond Becquerel (1820), Edme Mariotte (1620), Jacques Charles (1763), Gérard Mourou (1944), Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1932), and Claude-Louis Navier (1785).

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