Pyotr Lebedev
FEB 24, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030904
It’s the birthday of Pyotr Lebedev, who was born in 1866 in Moscow. After studying physics at the University of Strasbourg, Lebedev returned to Russia in 1891 to take up a position at Moscow State University. There, he conducted sensitive experiments to measure the effects of electromagnetic radiation on solid objects. His discovery in 1899 of radiation pressure constituted the first experimental vindication of a prediction of James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. In 1991 the Soviet Union honored Lebedev’s achievement by putting him on the country’s one-ruble coin.
Date in History: 24 February 1866
© 2015 American Institute of Physics
