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layout: person nodeid: bookofproofs$Lorentz categories: history,19th-century parentid: bookofproofs$603 tags: astronomy,origin-netherlands,prize-nobel,physics orderid: 1853 title: Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon born: 1853 died: 1928 keywords: hendrik lorentz,lorentz description: Hendrik Lorentz is best known for his work on electromagnetic radiation and the FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction. He developed the mathematical theory of the electron. references: bookofproofs$6909 contributors: @J-J-O'Connor,@E-F-Robertson,bookofproofs

Lorentz.jpg

Hendrik Lorentz is best known for his work on electromagnetic radiation and the FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction. He developed the mathematical theory of the electron.

Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):

  • Lorentz refined Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in his doctoral thesis The theory of the reflection and refraction of light presented in 1875.
  • After retiring from this chair, Lorentz was appointed director of research at the Teyler Institute, Haarlem.
  • Before the existence of electrons was proved, Lorentz proposed that light waves were due to oscillations of an electric charge in the atom.
  • Lorentz developed his mathematical theory of the electron for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1902.
  • The Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman, a student of Lorentz.
  • Zeeman had verified experimentally Lorentz's theoretical work on atomic structure, demonstrating the effect of a strong magnetic field on the oscillations by measuring the change in the wavelength of the light produced.
  • Lorentz is also famed for his work on the FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction, which is a contraction in the length of an object at relativistic speeds.
  • Lorentz transformations, which he introduced in 1904, form the basis of Einstein's special theory of relativity.
  • Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911.
  • However Lorentz never fully accepted quantum theory and always hoped that it would be possible to incorporate it back into the classical approach.
  • Lorentz received a great many honours for his outstanding work.

Born 18 July 1853, Arnhem, Netherlands. Died 4 February 1928, Haarlem, Netherlands.

View full biography at MacTutor