Becquerel (Bq)

Radioactive decay

60 dpm

The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity, defined as the activity of a quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second. It is therefore equivalent to s⁻¹. The older unit of radioactivity was the curie (Ci), defined as 3.7×10¹⁰ becquerels or 37 GBq. The becquerel is named for Henri Becquerel, who shared a Nobel Prize with Pierre and Marie Curie for their work in discovering radioactivity.