Dr. Paul Alfred Biefeld (22 March 1867 – 21 June 1943) was a German-American electrical engineer, astronomer and teacher.
The effect was named by inventor Thomas Townsend Brown, a former student of Biefeld at Denison University in Ohio.
[1] Brown only attended Denison University for one year and their records show no evidence of any research or experiments being carried out by Biefeld/Brown during Biefeld's professorship there.
[2] Brown himself seemed to think the effect demonstrated a connection between electricity and gravity, which he thought was being negated by the high voltage.
Later in life Biefeld recounted that Einstein borrowed his class notes but there is little evidence of anything more than a passing acquaintance between the two students.