Professor Louis de Broglie, c mid-20th century

Louis Victor Pierre Raymond, 7th Duc de Broglie, born in Normandy, 15 August 1892, died 19 March 1987. de Broglie was a French theoretical physicist and aristocrat, who is best known for his contributions to quantum theory. de Broglie won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1929 for his theory that all matter has wave-like properties, which was successfully demonstrated via experiment in 1927. de Broglie was born into the aristocratic family of Broglie. de Broglie first obtained a degree in humanities, before turning to the sciences, receiving a degree in physics. He served in the military in WWI, helping to develop radio communications with submarines. de Broglie obtained his PhD in 1924, and this work formed the basis of the study that would win him the Nobel Prize five years later. He became a member of the Académie des sciences in 1933, and was the secretary from 1942. He was also a member of the National Council of Vichy France, and was further elected to the Académie Française in 1944. Upon the death of his brother, Maurice, in 1960, de Broglie became the 7th duc de Broglie. He also received the title of Knight of the Grand Cross in the Légion d'honneur. de Broglie never married. He died in 1987, aged 94. de Broglie received many awards in his life, including the Max Planck Medal (1938), the Kalinga Prize, awarded by UNESCO (1952), and was also a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1953).