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Pieter van Musschenbroek
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Pieter van Musschenbroek

Dutch physicist and mathematician
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Quick Facts
Born:
March 14, 1692, Leiden, Neth.
Died:
Sept. 19, 1761, Leiden (aged 69)

Pieter van Musschenbroek (born March 14, 1692, Leiden, Neth.—died Sept. 19, 1761, Leiden) was a Dutch mathematician and physicist who discovered the principle of the Leyden jar about the same time (1745) as E.G. von Kleist of Pomerania.

Musschenbroek, a gifted and influential teacher of science, held professorships at the universities of Duisburg (1719–23), Utrecht (1723–40), and Leiden (1740–61).

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.