LEBEDEV, PYOTR NIKOLAYEVICH

born March 8 [Feb. 24, old style], 1866, Moscow died March 14 [March 1, O.S.], 1912, Moscow Russian physicist who demonstrated experimentally the minute pressure that light exerts on bodies (1910). Lebedev studied physics under August Kundt at Strasbourg, where he took his doctorate (1891). He became professor at the University of Moscow (1900). He published Experimental Research on Light Pressure (1901) and also worked on the origin of the Earth's magnetism. The P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, was named in his honour.