Max Christian Theodor Steenbeck (21 March 1904 – 15 December 1981) was a German nuclear physicist who invented the betatron in 1934 during his employment at the Siemens AG.

In 1943, he was appointed technical director of a static converter plant at Siemens, conducting research in gas-discharge physics.

[8] At the close of the World War II, Steenbeck was taken in the Soviet custody with the Red Army holding him at a concentration camp in Poznań in Poland.

Eventually, he directed a letter to the Soviet intelligence service, the NKVD, where he explained his scientific background, which allowed him to be taken to recuperate at the dacha in Opalikha railway station at the end of 1945, after which he was sent to work at Manfred von Ardenne's Institute A, in Sinop,[9][10] a suburb of Sukhumi.

He headed a group working on both electromagnetic and centrifugal isotope separation for the enrichment of uranium, with the latter having the highest priority.

Shortly after completing the work, at the request of the United States, all centrifuge research in Germany became classified on August 1, 1960.

The Max-Steenbeck Gymnasium in Cottbus, an academic high school offering extended mathematical-scientific-technical training, was named in his honour.