Germer, Lester Halbert

Davisson, Clinton Davis and Germer, Lester Halbert were working at Bell Labs at the time of their discovery of electron diffraction. Davisson died in 1958 at age 76 (born 1881) and Germer died in 1971 at age 75 (born 1896). 

Lester Halbert Germer (1896-1972). American physicist. Discoverer (with Davisson) of the wave properties of electrons. 

Diffraction is a characteristic wave property. It is useful to recall that the mass of the electron was determined accurately by Millikan in 1909. A precise mass is very much a particle-type property. Geiger counters monitor P-particles (electrons) one by one ( click-click-click ) another particle property. The de Broglie equation suggests that wavelengths (X) are associated with electrons and that these should be on the order of 10"" m. In principle, electrons should be diffracted by crystals, a prediction confirmed in 1927 by Clinton Joseph Davisson (1881-1958) and Lester Halbert Germer (1896-1971), at Bell Telephone Laboratories. De Broglie was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in physics and Davisson won a share of the 1937 Nobel Prize in physics. 

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