Louis Victor de Broglie, a theoretical physicist and member of the French nobility, is best known as the father of wave mechanics , a far-reaching achievement that significantly changed modern physics. Wave mechanics describes the behavior of matter, including subatomic particles such as electrons, with respect to their wave characteristics. For this groundbreaking work, de Broglie was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize for physics.

Louis Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie was born on August 15, 1892, in Dieppe, France, to Duc Victor and Pauline d'Armaille Broglie. His father's family was of noble Piedmontese origin and had served French monarchs for centuries, for which it was awarded the hereditary title Duc from King Louis XIV in 1740, a title that could be held only by the head of the family. A later de Broglie assisted the Austrian side during the Seven Years War and was awarded the title Prinz for his contribution. This title...