Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost

Leidenfrost first attended the University of Gießen where he followed in his father's footsteps by studying theology.

After the conclusion of his academic studies, Leidenfrost spent some years traveling and took a post as a field physician in the first Silesian War.

Johann and Anna had seven children together, including Johanna Ulricke (1752–1819), who was later the wife of the noted German theologian, Christian Krafft.

During his lifetime, Leidenfrost published more than seventy manuscripts, including De Aquae Communis Nonnullis Qualitatibus Tractatus (1756) ("A Tract About Some Qualities of Common Water") in which the Leidenfrost effect was first described (although the phenomenon had been previously observed by Herman Boerhaave in 1732).

It is most commonly seen when cooking; one sprinkles drops of water in a skillet to gauge its temperature.