Skip to content
Paul Langevin

File:Paul_Langevin_Wellcome2.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ25320· pop 59· linked from 246 articles

Paul Langevin

Sign in to save

French physicist, philosopher of science and pedagogue (1872-1946)

OverviewAI-generated

Paul Langevin (1872–1946) was a French physicist, chemist, and philosopher of science. Born and deceased in Paris, he was a member of the French Communist Party and served as a pedagogue. His academic career included positions at the Collège de France, ESPCI Paris, and PSL University. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, University of Paris, École Normale Supérieure, ESPCI Paris, and PSL University, with doctoral advisors including Pierre Curie, J. J. Thomson, and Gabriel Lippmann.

Langevin was a member of the Royal Society, Human Rights League, French Academy of Sciences, and Russian Academy of Sciences. He received the Copley Medal, Hughes Medal, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, and Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. His work focused on physics, chemistry, and theoretical physics. He is buried at the Panthéon in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Synthesized by Vinony from 35 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Vinony collections, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1872
Died
1946
Works
14

Top works

  • Henri Poincaré
  • Hommage à Paul Langevin
  • Thèses présentées a la faculté des sciences de l'Université de Paris pour obtenir le grade de docteur ès sciences physiques
  • Œuvres scientifiques
  • Les Méthodes modernes de guerre et protection des populations civiles

via Open Library + Wikidata

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Paul
Gender
male
Citizenship
France
Place of birth
Paris
Place of death
Paris
Position held
president
Political party
French Communist Party
Languages spoken
French
Doctoral advisor
Gabriel Lippmann
Student of
Pierre Curie
Field of work
pedagogy
Image
Paul Langevin Wellcome2.jpg
Significant event
funeral
Show 16 more facts
date of birth
1872-01-23
date of death
1946-12-19
Commons category
Paul Langevin
Commons gallery
Paul Langevin
name in native language
Paul Langevin
place of detention
La Santé Prison
unmarried partner
Éliane Montel
writing language
French
contributor to the creative work or subject
Éliane Montel
maintained by WikiProject
WikiProject Mathematics
Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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. He is also known for his two US patents with Constantin Chilowsky in 1916 and 1917 involving ultrasonic submarine detection. He is entombed at the Panthéon.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Paul Langevin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (4)