Lenard, Philipp Eduard Anton 1862-1947
German physicist and Nobel Prize winner

Born in Pozsony, Hungary (Bratislava, Slovakia), and educated at the University of Heidelberg, he was a researcher at the universities of Bonn and Breslau before returning to Heidelberg as professor (1896-98). He then moved on to Kiel University (1898-1907) before returning to the University of Heidelberg until his retirement in 1931. His observations of the photoelectric effect were explained by Albert Einstein in 1905, and his studies of the magnetic deflection of cathode rays and their electrostatic properties, led him to suggest that atoms contain units of both positive and negative charge. For these studies he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1905. He was also awarded the Royal Society Rumford Medal (1904) and the Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute (1905).