John Zeleny (March 26, 1872 – June 19, 1951) was an American physicist who, in 1911, invented the Zeleny electroscope. He also studied the effect of an electric field on a liquid meniscus. His work is seen by some as a beginning to emergent technologies like liquid metal ion sources and electrospraying and electrospinning. Zeleny was born in Racine, Wisconsin to a Czech immigrant couple from Křídla. He was the older brother of Charles Zeleny. He attended the University of Minnesota (B.S., 1892), followed by Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1899), and the University of Minnesota (PhD, 1906). Zeleny began his teaching career at the University of Minnesota after earning his B.A. in 1892. In 1915, he joined the faculty at Yale, where he was chairman of the physics department and director of graduate studies in physics until his retirement in 1940. References External links Zeleny Electroscope American physicists American people of Czech descent 1872 births 1951 deaths People from Racine, Wisconsin University of Minnesota alumni Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge University of Minnesota faculty Yale University faculty Presidents of the American Physical Society