Johann Heinrich Winkler (12.03.1703-18.05.1770) was a German physicist. He was born in Wingendorf. He graduated from the University of Leipzig (1728), where he was professor from 1739.
His research was in the field of electricity. In 1744 he built an electrical machine and showed that the earth conducts electricity and that water is a good conductor. In 1746 he improved the Leyden jar, carried out a number of experiments with it and was the first, along with B. Franklin, to connect jars in parallel into a battery, making a battery of three jars. In 1753 he built a lightning conductor.
A Fellow of the Royal Society (1746).