Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (German: [ˈlɪçtn̩bɛʁk]; 1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German physicist, satirist, and Anglophile. He was the first person in Germany to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics. He is remembered for his posthumously published notebooks, which he himself called Sudelbücher, a description modelled on the English bookkeeping term "waste books" or "scrapbooks", and for his discovery of the tree-like electrical discharge patterns now called Lichtenberg figures.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was born in Ober-Ramstadt near Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, the youngest of 17 children. His father, Johann Conrad Lichtenberg, was a pastor ascending through the ranks of the church hierarchy, who eventually became superintendent for Darmstadt. The mother of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg was Katharina Henriette Lichtenberg, nee Eckard, daughter of pastor Johann Peter Eckard. His maternal aunt Sophie Elisabeth Eckard was married to composer and harpsichordist Christoph Graupner. Unusually for a clergyman in those times, he seems to have possessed a fair amount of scientific knowledge. Lichtenberg was educated at his parents' house until the age of 10, when he joined the Lateinschule in Darmstadt. His intelligence became obvious at a very early age. He wanted to study mathematics, but his family could not afford to pay for lessons. In 1762, his mother applied to Ludwig VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, who granted sufficient funds. In 1763, Lichtenberg entered the University of Göttingen.
In 1769, he became extraordinary professor of physics, and six years later ordinary professor. He held this post till his death. Invited by his students, he visited England twice, from Easter to early Summer 1770 and from August 1774 to Christmas 1775, where he was received cordially by George III and Queen Charlotte. He led the King through the royal observatory in Richmond, upon which the king proposed that he become professor of philosophy. He also met with participants of Cook's voyages. Great Britain impressed him, and he subsequently became a well-known Anglophile.
One of the first scientists to introduce experiments with apparatus in their lectures, Lichtenberg was a popular and respected figure in contemporary European intellectual circles. He was one of the first to introduce Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod to Germany by installing such devices in his house and garden sheds. He maintained relations with most of the great figures of that era, including Goethe and Kant. In 1784, Alessandro Volta visited Göttingen especially to see him and his experiments. Mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss sat in on his lectures.
Alexander von Humboldt was a student of Lichtenberg in Göttingen.
In 1793, he was elected a member of the Royal Society.
Lichtenberg was prone to procrastination. He failed to launch the first hydrogen balloon. He always dreamed of writing a novel à la Fielding's Tom Jones, but never finished more than a few pages.
Philosophically Lichtenberg was most influenced by Baruch Spinoza and Immanuel Kant, the latter of which he exchanged letters with.
Lichtenberg became a hunchback as a child owing to a malformation of his spine suffered from a fall. This left him unusually short, even by 18th-century standards. Over time, this malformation grew worse, ultimately affecting his breathing.
In 1777, he met Maria Stechard, then aged 13, who lived with the professor permanently after 1780. She died in 1782. Their relationship was made into a novel by Gert Hofmann, which was translated by his son Michael Hofmann into English with the title Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl.
In 1783, the year after Stechard's death, Lichtenberg met Margarethe Kellner (1768–1848). He married her in 1789, to give her a pension, as he thought he was to die soon. They had six children: Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1786–1845), Louise Wilhelmina Lichtenberg (1789–1802), Agnes Lichtenberg (1793–1820), Augusta Friederike Lichtenberg (1795–1837), Heinrich August Lichtenberg (1797–1836) and Christian Wilhelm Lichtenberg (1799–1860). Margarethe outlived Lichtenberg by 49 years.
In 1799, Lichtenberg died in Göttingen after a short illness at the age of 56.
Lichtenberg had 17 brothers and sisters, most of whom died in infancy; among those who survived past infancy are:
Klara Sophie Lichtenberg (1718–1780).
Gottlieb Christoph Lichtenberg (1724–1756) – Office Secretary in Grünstadt and Bailiff in Seeheim, was married Sophie Dorothea Wißmann (1722–1792), widow of bailiff Georg Alexander Campen (1704–1752), his son was Head of Government in Grand Duchy of Hesse Friedrich August von Lichtenberg (1755–1819), among his grandchildren was Administrative Officer in Grand Duchy of Hesse Ludwig von Lichtenberg (1784–1845).
Christian Friedrich Lichtenberg (1734–1790) – Oberappellationsrat and Secret Tribunal Council, unmarried.
Ludwig Christian Lichtenberg (1737–1812) – Geheimer Archivarius in Gotha and Geheimer Assistenzrat, unmarried.
The "scrapbooks" (Sudelbücher in German) are notebooks, in the tradition of commonplace books or waste books, which Lichtenberg kept from his student days until the end of his life. Each volume was accorded a letter of the alphabet from A, which began in 1765, to L, which broke off at Lichtenberg's death in 1799.