Portrait of Philipp Lenard

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Philipp Lenard

Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1947)

Born
June 7, 1862
Died
May 20, 1947
Zodiac sign
Gemini
Birth year
1862

About Philipp Lenard

Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard was a Hungarian–German experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 for his work on cathode rays. This work led to his experimental realization of the photoelectric effect, discovering that the energy (speed) of the electrons ejected from a cathode depends only on the frequency and not the intensity of light. Lenard observed that the absorption of cathode rays was, to first order, proportional to the density of the material they were made to pass through. The photoelectric quantum theory was the work cited when Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. Lenard attended the Pozsonyi Királyi Katolikus Főgymnasium (now Gamča), and as he records in his autobiography, this made a big impression on him (especially the personality of his teacher, Virgil Klatt). In 1892, Lenard became a Privatdozent and an assistant to Heinrich Hertz at the University of Bonn; Lenard and Hertz conducted experiments with cathode rays, which led to him winning the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Philipp Lenard timeline

  1. In 1892, Lenard became a Privatdozent and an assistant to Heinrich Hertz at the University of Bonn; Lenard and Hertz conducted experiments with cathode rays, which led to him winning the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  2. The photoelectric quantum theory was the work cited when Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.

The world when Philipp Lenard was born

Philipp Lenard was born in 1862. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineBattle of Antietam — bloodiest single day in US history
  • Technology milestoneGatling gun patented
  • World population~1.42B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderAbraham Lincoln
  • U.S. population32.2M

1862 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Philipp Lenard's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18622026
Population32.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

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