Lorentz

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

Born: 18 July 1853 in Arnhem, Netherlands
Died: 4 Feb 1928 in Haarlem, Netherlands

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Lorentz refined Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in his doctoral thesis (1875) and was appointed professor of mathematical physics at Leiden University in 1878. He remained in this post until he retired in 1912 and Ehrenfest was appointed to his chair.

Lorentz is best known for his work on electromagnetic radiation and the FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction, which is a contraction in the length of an object at relativistic speeds. Before the existence of electrons was proved, Lorentz proposed that light waves were due to oscillations of an electric charge in the atom. He developed his mathematical theory of the electron for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1902.

Lorentz transformations, which he introduced in 1904, form the basis of Einstein's special theory of relativity.

References elsewhere in this archive:

Tell me about Lorentz's work on quantum theory

Tell me about his work on special relativity and general relativity

References:

  1. Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  2. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  3. G L de Haas-Lorentz, H A Lorentz, Impressions of his Life and Work (Amsterdam, 1957).
  4. T Hirosige, Origins of Lorentz' Theory of Electrons and the Concept of the Electromagnetic Field, Historical Studies in the physical Sciences 1 (1969), 151-209.
  5. J A Kox, Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, the Ether and the General Theory of Relativity, Archive for History of Exact Sciences 38 (1988), 67-78. 
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JOC/EFR February 1996