The diffraction of electromagnetic cm-waves passing by the straight edge of a metal screen was experimentally investigated. The diffraction which depends on the polarisation of the waves and the thickness of the screen was measured within a range of about 20 wavelengths around the edge of the screen. The results agree with the theory of Sommerfeld and the investigations of Franz and Deppermann. The intensity function of the waves near the edge of the screen shadow depends - according to our measurements - on the curvature of the screen edge. This agrees with the theoretical postulation of Artmann: if the radius of the screen edge is a>λ the diffraction fringes appearing around the shadow of the screen edge are shifted towards the light area when σ-polarized radiation is used. When using π-polarized radiation a shift towards the shadow area ist observed. © 1965 Springer-Verlag.