Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

German physicist, satirist, and writer of aphorisms, best known for his ridicule of metaphysical and romantic excesses.

Lichtenberg was the 17th child of a Protestant pastor, who taught him mathematics and natural sciences.

Lichtenberg did research in a wide variety of fields—including geophysics, volcanology, meteorology, chemistry, astronomy, and mathematics—but most important were his investigations into physics.

In 1777 he discovered the basic principle of modern xerographic copying; the images that he reproduced are still called “Lichtenberg figures.”

Lichtenberg was a most popular and respected figure in the European intellectual circles of his time.

He died 24 February 1799, Gottingen.