Frits Zernike was born on July 16, 1888, in Amsterdam, the son of two mathematicians, Carl Frederick August Zernike and Antje Dieperink Zernike. While still young, Zernike was recognized for his mathematical abilities. He received both his B.S. and his...

1888-1966 Dutch physicist whose development of the phase-contrast method, which had a profound impact on high-performance optical microscopy, earned him the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physics. Ironically, in spite of a promising university career,...

Frederik Zernike (Amsterdam, July 16, 1888 – Amersfoort, March 10, 1966) was a Dutch physicist and winner of the Nobel prize for physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase contrast microscope, an instrument that permits the study of internal...