A member of the
von Kleist
The House of Kleist is the name of an old and distinguished Pomeranian Prussian noble family, whose members obtained many important military positions within the Kingdom of Prussia and later in the German Empire.
Notable members
*Henning Alexan ...
family, Ewald was born in Wicewo (Wicewo) in
Farther Pomerania
Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (german: Hinterpommern, Ostpommern), is the part of Pomerania which comprised the eastern part of the Duchy and later Province of Pomerania. It stretched roughly from the Od ...
. He studied
jurisprudence at the
University of Leipzig and the
University of Leyden
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...
and may have started his interest in electricity at the latter university under the influence of
Willem 's Gravesande. From 1722–1745 he was dean of the cathedral at Kamień Pomorski in the
Kingdom of Prussia, after which he became president of the royal court of justice in Koszalin.
On 11 October 1745 he independently invented the
Kleistian jar which could store electricity in large quantities. He communicated this discovery to a group of Berlin scientists in late 1745, and the news was transferred in a confused form to Leyden University where it was further investigated. This became more commonly known as the
Leyden jar after graduate student
Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leyden.
References
1700 births
1748 deaths
People from Tychowo
18th-century German lawyers
18th-century German inventors
Deans (Christianity)
18th-century German Lutheran clergy
18th-century German physicists
Ewald Georg
People from the Province of Pomerania
Leipzig University alumni
Leiden University alumni
{{Germany-physicist-stub