KLEIST, E(WALD) GEORG VON

born c. 1700, , Prussian Pomerania? died Dec. 11, 1748, Kslin, Pomerania? German administrator and cleric who discovered (1745) the Leyden jar, a fundamental electric circuit element for storing electricity, now usually referred to as a capacitor. The device was independently discovered at about the same time by Pieter van Musschenbroek, who investigated it more thoroughly than Kleist.