Philipp Lenard was a German physicist born in 1862 in Pozsony, Slovak Republic (now Bratislava, Slovakia) and died in 1947 in Messelhausen, Germany. He invented the photoelectric cell, an early model of the three-electrode vacuum tube that is important for radio technology today. He also studied the size and shape of raindrops and properties of phosphorescence, luminescence, and flames. Lenard held professorships at several universities and received numerous honors including the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1. Date of Birth: June 7, 1862
Birthplace: Pozsony, Slovak Republic
Date of Death: May 20, 1947
Location of death: Messelhausen,
Germany
Lenard wrote, “When school days ended, a painful
void came into my life”.

2. Lenard was the son of a wealthy wine maker
and wholesaler. His mother Antonie Baumann
died young, and Lenard, an only child, was
raised by an aunt who subsequently married his
father. His family had originally come from the
Tyrol.

3. Lenard was at first educated at home, but when he was nine he
entered the cathedral school in Pressburg and the later the
Realschule. For him mathematics and physics were “oases in the
desert” of other subjects, and he studies these two subjects by
himself with the aid of college textbooks. In addition, he carried out
chemistry and physics experiments on his own. He once devoted
his summer vacation entirely to study of the new field of
photography. From 1892 he worked as a Privatdozent and assistant
to Professor Hertz at the University of Bonn and in 1894 was
appointed Professor Extraordinary at the University of Breslau. In
1895 he became Professor of Physics at Aix-la-Chapelle and in
1896 Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of
Heidelberg. In 1898 he was appointed Professor Ordinarius at the
University of Kiel.

4. Philip’s Accomplishment
Lenard invented a photoelectric cell which was the first
model of the "3-electrode lamp" It is so important today
in radioelectric technique. He also studied the size and
shape of raindrops, describing what is sometimes called
the Lenard effect, the separation of electric charges as
water drops break up. His other work concerned
phosphorescence, luminescence, and electrical
conductivity of flames.

5. Rumford Medal 1896
Matteucci Medal 1896
Benjamin Franklin Medal 1905
Nobel Prize for Physics 1905
National Socialist German Workers Party
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1905
Hungarian Academy of Sciences 1907
German Ancestry
Hungarian Ancestry
Slovak Ancestry

6.  http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Philipp_Lenard.aspx
 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mod1.html
 http://www.nndb.com/people/441/000099144/
 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/190
5/lenard-bio.html
Student I.D. 94213327

7.  http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Philipp_Lenard.aspx
 http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mod1.html
 http://www.nndb.com/people/441/000099144/
 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/190
5/lenard-bio.html
Student I.D. 94213327