Frits Zernike (1888-1966)

Awarded the Prize “for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope.”

Dutch physicist. Zernike was born on July 16, 1888 at Amsterdam. He graduated from Amsterdam University in 1913 obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Groningen in 1915. He was a professor of theoretical mechanics mathematical physics. He was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, the Netherls the Royal Society in London. Zernike died on March 10, 1966 at Groningen.