Ernst Lecher (1.06.1856-19.07.1926) was an Austrian experimental physicist. He was born in Vienna. In 1879 he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Innsbruck. In 1882—93 he worked at the University of Vienna (professor from 1891), in 1893-95 he was professor at the University of Innsbruck, in 1895—1909 at the German University in Prague, and from 1909 at the University of Vienna.
His work was in the field of electricity, thermoelectricity, and electromagnetic oscillations and waves. He studied electromagnetic waves in a circuit with a capacitor and parallel conductors. He developed (1890) a method of measuring them by means of electrical resonance (the Lecher method). He obtained for the speed of their propagation along the wires a value equal to the speed of light.