Frits Zernike Quotes

Netherlands, Physicist
July 16, 1888 – March, 10, 1966.

Frits Zernike (Dutch pronunciation: [frɪts ˈzɛrnikə]; 16 July 1888 – 10 March 1966) was a Dutch physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. Frits Zernike was born on 16 July 1888 in Amsterdam, Netherlands to Carl Frederick August Zernike and Antje Dieperink. Both parents were teachers of mathematics, and he especially shared his father's passion for physics. He studied chemistry (his major), mathematics and physics at the University of Amsterdam.

About 1930, our laboratory had obtained a large concave grating and set it up in a Runge-Paschen mounting.

Frits Zernike
- Up
Phase contrast was not discovered while working with a microscope, but in a different part of optics.

Frits Zernike
- Different

How quick are we to learn: that is, to imitate what others have done or thought before. And how slow to understand: that is, to see the deeper connections.

Frits Zernike
- Done
With the phase-contrast method still in the first somewhat primitive stage, I went in 1932 to the Zeiss Works in Jena to demonstrate. It was not received with such enthusiasm as I had expected.

Frits Zernike