Pieter van Musschenbroek

Pieter van Musschenbroek,  (born March 14, 1692Leiden, Neth.—died Sept. 19, 1761, Leiden), 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).