Frits Zernike (16.07.1888-10.03.1966) — Dutch physicist, a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1946). Born in Amsterdam. Graduated from the University of Amsterdam (1912).
In 1913—58 he worked at the University of Groningen (professor from 1920). His main work concerned electromagnetism, the statistics of liquids and optics, in particular the diffraction theory of image formation in the presence of aberrations. He invented a galvanometer, a number of electromagnets and instruments for ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy. He developed (1934) the phase-contrast method and created (1935) the phase-contrast microscope (Nobel Prize, 1953). He derived (1938) formulas for calculating the degree of coherence of light from an incoherent source (the Van Cittert—Zernike formulas).
In 1914, with L. S. Ornstein, he introduced into molecular physics the concepts of correlation and the correlation function, gave a method of calculating the correlation function of density fluctuations, and derived a formula for the intensity of scattered light in the region of critical opalescence (the Ornstein—Zernike formula).
In 1913—58 he worked at the University of Groningen (professor from 1920). His main work concerned electromagnetism, the statistics of liquids and optics, in particular the diffraction theory of image formation in the presence of aberrations. He invented a galvanometer, a number of electromagnets and instruments for ultraviolet and infrared spectroscopy. He developed (1934) the phase-contrast method and created (1935) the phase-contrast microscope (Nobel Prize, 1953). He derived (1938) formulas for calculating the degree of coherence of light from an incoherent source (the Van Cittert—Zernike formulas).
In 1914, with L. S. Ornstein, he introduced into molecular physics the concepts of correlation and the correlation function, gave a method of calculating the correlation function of density fluctuations, and derived a formula for the intensity of scattered light in the region of critical opalescence (the Ornstein—Zernike formula).