Philip Lenard was born in Pozsony on 7th July, 1862. He studied at Heidelberg and Berlin and in 1898 he became professor of experimental physics at Kiel.

He investigated the photoelectric effect and cathode rays (the stream of electrons emitted from the cathode in a vacuum tube) and in 1905 he was awarded the Nobel Prize and two years later became professor of of experimental physics at Heidelberg University.

In 1924 Lenard joined the Nazi Party and spent the next few years making personal attacks on Jewish scientists in Germany such as Albert Einstein and Max Born.

With another German physicist, Johannes Stark, Lenard attempted to integrate physics with fascism. Philip Lenard died on 20th May, 1947.