Paul Becquerel (14 April 1879 – 22 June 1955) was a French biologist who studied seeds, their metabolism, and viability.
He was a nephew of the physicist Henri Becquerel and taught at the Faculty of Sciences in Nancy and at the University of Poitiers.
He began to study the viability of cells and demonstrated that spores and seeds became resistant after losing water and that rehydration could revive them.
Becquerel experimented with bacteria, fungal spores and seeds to test if they could withstand the conditions of space such as radiation and concluded that panspermia could not be supported.
[1] Becquerel tested the viability of seeds obtained from French museums.