Ernst Lecher

Ernst Lecher (1856–1926) was an Austrian physicist who, from 1909, was head of the "First Institute of Physics" [Jagdish Mehra, Helmut Rechenberg, "The Historical Development of Quantum Theory: V.1 Pt.2", p.73 et. seq., Springer, 2001, ISBN 0387951792, ISBN 9780387951799 - some notes on the history of the First and Second Physical Institutes in Vienna] in Vienna. He is remembered for developing an apparatus— "Lecher lines"—to measure the wavelength and frequency of electromagnetic waves. ["Ernst Lecher", "Encyclopedia of Austria" [http://aeiou.iicm.tugraz.at/aeiou.encyclop.l/l336666.htm;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en (online extract)] ] He gave his name to the Ernst-Lecher-Institut, a radar research establishment set up in the 1940s in Reichenau, south of Vienna, ["Henri Zemanek Interview", December 12, 1972, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, "Computer Oral History Collection", 1969-1973, 1977 [http://invention.smithsonian.org/downloads/fa_cohc_tr_zema721212.pdf] ] , which is now known as the Max Planck Institute.

Lecher's father, Zacharias K Lecher, [ [http://dodd.cmcvellore.ac.in/hom/36%20-%20Rontgen.html "Röntgen: Invisible Rays that Save Lives"] , CMC - Vellore - "History of Medicine Picture Collection"] was editor of Vienna's leading daily newspaper, "Die Presse", and helped to publicise Röntgen's discovery of X-rays in 1896. Lecher's nephew, Konrad Zacharias Lorenz, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973. [John R. Krebs, Sverre Sjölander, "Konrad Z. Lorenz For. Mem. R.S.(l903-1989)", Konrad Lorenz Institute for Research on Evolution and Cognition [http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=20&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gavia.nu%2Fuploads%2FKonrad_Lorenz_biografi.rtf&ei=pYClSMPeDpLKwQHAudD9DQ&usg=AFQjCNFKd4wJdxGTFZtsqNodmd44fmCN5A&sig2=UmWdR8qA3hNYuutfaZzWwg] ]

Publications

* "Studie über elektr. Resonanzerscheinungen", 1890
* "Lehrbuch der Physik für Mediziner und Biologen", 1912

References