Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev (Russian: Пётр Никола́евич Ле́бедев; 24 February 1866 – 1 March 1912) was a Russian physicist. His name was also transliterated as Peter Lebedew[1] and Peter Lebedev.[2] Lebedev was the creator of the first scientific school in Russia.
Along with Indian physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose he was one of the first to investigate millimeter waves, generating 50GHz (6mm) microwaves beginning in 1895 with a spark oscillator made of two platinum cylinders 1.5cm long and 0.5diameter immersed in kerosene at the focus of a parabolic reflector, and detecting the waves with an iron-constantanthermocouple detector.[3]
An English translation of the paper as well as a historical review is in.[5]
In 1909, he reported that the pressure of light on gas is in agreement with predictions based on Maxwell's theory.[6][7]
Later life
In 1901, he became a professor at Moscow State University, however, he quit the University in 1911, protesting against the politics of the Ministry of Education. In the same year, he received an invitation to become a professor in Stockholm, which he rejected. He died the next year of a hereditary heart condition.[6]
↑A. A. Kostenko, A. I. Nosich, P. F. Goldsmith, "Historical background and development of Soviet quasioptics at near-millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths" in Sarkar, T. K.; Mailloux, Robert; Oliner, Arthur A. (2006). History of Wireless. John Wiley and Sons. pp.478–488. ISBN0471783013.
↑P. Lebedew,“Les forces de Maxwell-Bartoli dues à la pression de la lumière” Rapports présentés au Congrès International de Physique 2, 133 (1900).
