Frederik "Frits" Zernike was a Dutch physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1953 for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1953, announced November 4, 1953. Frits Zernike, “for his demonstration of the phase contrast method, especially for his invention of the phase contrast microscope”. Frits Zernike: born 1888, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).