Hendrik Lorentz

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
Painting of Hendrik Lorentz by Menso Kamerlingh Onnes
Born	July 18, 1853 Arnhem, Netherlands
Died	February 4 1928 (aged 74) Haarlem, Netherlands
Residence	Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Field	Physicist
Institutions	University of Leiden
Alma mater	University of Leiden
Academic advisor	Petrus Leonardus Rijke
Notable students	Geertruida L. de Haas-Lorentz Adriaan Fokker
Known for	Theory of EM radiation
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize for Physics (1902)

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (July 18, 1853, Arnhem – February 4, 1928, Haarlem) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and elucidation of the Zeeman effect.

Biography

Early life

Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland, son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822 – 1893), a shopkeeper, and Geertruida van Ginkel (1826 – 1861). In 1862, after his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes. From 1866-1869 he attended the newly established high school in Arnhem, and in 1870 he passed the exams in classical languages which were then required for admission to University.
Lorentz studied physics and mathematics at the University of Leiden, where he was strongly influenced by the teaching of astronomy professor Frederik Kaiser; it was his influence that led him to become a physicist. After earning a bachelor's degree, he returned to Arnhem in 1872 to teach high school classes in mathematics, but he continued his studies in Leiden next to his teaching position. In 1875 Lorentz earned a doctoral degree under Pieter Rijke on a thesis entitled "Over de theorie der terugkaatsing en breking van het licht" (On the theory of reflection and refraction of light), in which he refined the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell.
In 1881 Hendrik married Aletta Catharina Kaiser, niece of Frederik Kaiser. She was the daughter of Johann Wilhelm Kaiser, director of the Amsterdam's Engraving School and professor of Fine Arts, and designer of the first Dutch postage stamps (1852). Later Kaiser was the Director of the National Gallery of Amsterdam. Hendrik and Aletta's eldest daughter Geertruida Luberta Lorentz was to become a physicist as well.

Professor in Leiden

In 1878, only 24 years of age, Lorentz was appointed to the newly established chair in theoretical physics at the University of Leiden. On January 25 1878 he delivered his inaugural lecture on "De moleculaire theoriën in de natuurkunde" (The molecular theories in physics).

During the first twenty years in Leiden Lorentz was primarily interested in the theory of electromagnetism, to explain the relationship of electricity, magnetism, and light. After that he extended his research to a much wider area while still focusing on theoretical physics. From his publications it appears that Lorentz made contributions to mechanics, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, kinetic theories, solid state theory, light, and propagation. His most important contributions were in the area of electromagnetism, the electron theory, and relativity.

Lorentz theorized that the atoms might consist of charged particles and suggested that the oscillations of these charged particles were the source of light. This was experimentally proven in 1896 by Pieter Zeeman, a colleague and former student of Lorentz. His name is now associated with the Lorentz-Lorenz formula, the Lorentz force, the Lorentzian distribution, and the Lorentz transformation.

Electrodynamics and "relativity"

In 1892 in an attempt to explain the Michelson-Morley experiment, Lorentz proposed that moving bodies contract in the direction of motion (see length contraction; George Francis FitzGerald had already arrived at this conclusion, and fr similar reasons. Unlike FitzGerald, whose work on the theory was not much more than a brief letter to the journal Science, Lorentz developed the theory and mathematics behind the idea. He introduced the term local time which varies in reference frames with different uniform velocities relative to one another. Lorentz found that he could not keep the form of Maxwell's equations in different reference frames without making time itself vary with respect to these reference frames. Henri Poincaré in 1900 called Lorentz's local time a "wonderful invention" and showed how it arose when clocks in moving frames are synchronized by exchanging light signals which are assumed to travel with the same speed against and with the motion of the frame. In 1899 and again in 1904 Lorentz added time dilation to his transformations and published what Poincaré in 1905 named the Lorentz transformations. It was apparently unknown to Lorentz that Joseph Larmor had predicted time dilation, at least for orbiting electrons, and published the identical transformations in 1897. Larmor's and Lorentz's equations are algebraically equivalent to those presented by Poincaré and Einstein in 1905 (see Macrossan (1986)). These mathematical formulas describe basic effects of the theory of Special relativity, namely the increase of mass, shortening of length, and time dilation that are characteristic of a moving body, all of which Lorentz had discussed in his 1899 publication.

Albert Einstein and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, photographed by Ehrenfest in front of his home in Leiden in 1921. Source: Museum Boerhaave, Leiden

Mass increase was the first prediction of special relativity to be tested, but from early experiments by Kaufmann it appeared that his prediction was wrong; this led Lorentz to the famous remark that he was "at the end of his Latin."[1] Its confirmation had to wait until 1908.

Related to his attempts to understand the Michelson Morley experiment, Lorentz in 1892 devised a theory of the structure of matter that gave it a strong electromagnetic component. His theory of the atom was that it was composed of two oppositely charged components, one of which was larger than the other and constituted most of the atom's mass. <<<Mamone Capria, Marco. 2005. Physics before and after Einstein. Amsterdam: IOS Press. 34-36. ISBN 1586034626.>>> In Lorentz's theory, oscillating charges in the atoms that he called ions but later named "electrons" were responsible for the interaction between light and matter. This theory gave an explanation for the foreshortening necessitated by the Michelson Morley experiment, in that it related the null result and the foreshortening that would be required to account for it to an electromagnetic property produced by the motion of electric charge.

Zeeman was a friend, colleague and former student of Lorentz, and in the mid-1890s, was interested in conducting experiments to determine the relationship between light and magnetism. Encouraged by the results of Michael Faraday over half a century earlier, Zeeman hoped to determine whether a magnetic field influences the spectral lines of sodium. His supervisor failed to share his enthusiasm, but Lorentz encouraged Zeeman. Zeeman was able to perform the experiment, burning a sample of a sodium compound between two strong electromagnets and analyzing the resulting spectrum. He was able to detect a change—a splitting of the spectral lines. Lorentz immediately used the results to make one of the first measurements of the ratio of the charge to the mass of an electron, and was able to establish that it carried a negative electric charge. .<<<Verschuur, Gerrit L. 1993. Hidden attraction: the history and mystery of magnetism. New York: Oxford University Press. 184-187. ISBN 0195064887>>> A year later, J.J. Thompson used an entirely different, but more direct, method to measure the same quantity. The two men, mentor and student, were both awarded the Nobel prize in 1902, Zeeman for his experiments that led to the discovery of the effect that bears his name, and Lorentz for his theory of the electron.

Poincaré (1902) said of Lorentz's theory of electrodynamics

The most satisfactory theory is that of Lorentz; it is unquestionably the theory that best explains the known facts, the one that throws into relief the greatest number of known relations ... it is due to Lorentz that the results of Fizeau on the optics of moving bodies, the laws of normal and abnormal dispersion and of absorption are connected with each other ... Look at the ease with which the new Zeeman phenomenon found its place, and even aided the classification of Faraday's magnetic rotation, which had defied all Maxwell's efforts. (Poincaré 1902)

In 1906 Lorentz traveled to America and delivered a series of lectures on relativistic electromagnetic theory. These lectures were published in 1909 under the title Theory of Electrons. <<<Moyer, Albert E. 1983. American physics in transition: a history of conceptual change in the late nineteenth century. The History of modern physics, 1800-1950, v. 3. Los Angeles: Tomash Publishers. 151. ISBN 0938228064>>>

Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911. Shortly after the conference, Poincaré wrote an essay on quantum physics which gives an indication of Lorentz's status at the time:

... at every moment [the twenty physicists from different countries] could be heard talking of the [quantum mechanics] which they contrasted with the old mechanics. Now what was the old mechanics? Was it that of Newton, the one which still reigned uncontested at the close of the nineteenth century? No, it was the mechanics of Lorentz, the one dealing with the principle of relativity; the one which, hardly five years ago, seemed to be the height of boldness. (Poincaré 1913)

In the same essay Poincaré lists the enduring aspects of Lorentzian mechanics:

no body in motion will ever be able to exceed the speed of light ... the mass of a body is not constant ... no experiment will ever be able [to detect] motion either in relation to absolute space or even in relation to the ether. (Poincaré 1913)

Thus Herbert Dingle, an early supporter of Einstein's work, remarked:

Until the first World War, Lorentz's and Einstein's theories were regarded as different forms of the same idea, but Lorentz, having priority and being a more established figure speaking a more familiar language, was credited with it (Dingle 1967, Nature 216 p.119-122)

Later life

In 1912 Lorentz retired early to become director of research at Teylers Museum in Haarlem, although he remained external professor at Leiden and gave weekly lectures there. Paul Ehrenfest succeeded him in his chair at the University of Leiden, founding the Institute for Theoretical Physics which would become known as the Lorentz Institute. In addition to the Nobel prize, Lorentz received a great many honours for his outstanding work. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1905. The Society awarded him its Rumford Medal in 1908 for his investigations of optical and electrical phenomena, and its Copley Medal for his research in mathematical physics in 1918.

While Lorentz is mostly known for fundamental theoretical work, he also had an interest in practical applications. In the years 1918-1926, at the request of the Dutch government, Lorentz headed a committee to calculate some of the effects of the proposed Afsluitdijk (Closure Dike) flood control dam on other seaworks in the Netherlands. Hydraulic engineering was mainly an empirical science at that time, but the disturbance of the tidal flow caused by the Afsluitdijk was so unprecedented that the empirical rules could not be trusted. Lorentz proposed to start from the basic hydrodynamic equations of motion and solve the problem numerically. This was feasible for a "human computer," because of the quasi-one-dimensional nature of the water flow in the Waddenzee. The Afsluitdijk was completed in 1933 and the predictions of Lorentz and his committee turned out to be remarkably accurate.

Death and legacy

<<The "Legacy" section should not be confined to quotes from various people. It should summarize his important achievements (or ideas) and contributions, and indicate how they influenced human society and/or the world.>>

The respect that Lorentz held in the Netherlands is seen in O. W. Richardson's description of his funeral [6]:

The funeral took place at Haarlem at noon on Friday, February 10. At the stroke of twelve the State telegraph and telephone services of Holland were suspended for three minutes as a revered tribute to the greatest man Holland has produced in our time. It was attended by many colleagues and distinguished physicists from foreign countries. The President, Sir Ernest Rutherford, represented the Royal Society and made an appreciative oration by the graveside.

Richardson describes Lorentz as:

[A] man of remarkable intellectual powers ... . Although steeped in his own investigation of the moment, he always seemed to have in his immediate grasp its ramifications into every corner of the universe. ... The singular clearness of his writings provides a striking reflection of his wonderful powers in this respect. .... He possessed and successfully employed the mental vivacity which is necessary to follow the interplay of discussion, the insight which is required to extract those statements which illuminate the real difficulties, and the wisdom to lead the discussion among fruitful channels, and he did this so skillfully that the process was hardly perceptible.

M. J. Klein (1967) wrote of Lorentz's reputation in the 1920s:

For many years physicists had always been eager "to hear what Lorentz will say about it" when a new theory was advanced, and, even at seventy-two, he did not disappoint them.

• Nobel Prize for Physics (1902)
• Rumford Medal (1908)
• Copley Medal (1918)

See also

• Albert Einstein
• General relativity
• Pieter Zeeman

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• de Haas-Lorentz, Geertruida L. (1957), H.A. Lorentz: impressions of his life and work., North-Holland Pub. Co., Amsterdam [Translation by Joh. C. Fagginger Auer].
• van Delft, Dirk (February 2004). The case of the stolen rooms. European Review 12 (1): 95-109.
• Brown, Harvey R. (October 2001). The origins of length contraction: I. The FitzGerald–Lorentz deformation hypothesis. American Journal of Physics 69 (10): 1044-1054.
• Kox, AJ (May 1997). The discovery of the electron: II. The Zeeman effect. Eur. J. Phys. 18 (3): 139-144.
• Kox, AJ (March 1996). H.A. Lorentz: Sketches of his work on slow viscous flow and some other areas in fluid mechanics and the background against which it arose. Journal of Engineering Mathematics 30 (1-2): ii+1-18.
• Kox, AJ (March 1993). Einstein, Lorentz, Leiden and general relativity. Classical and Quantum Gravity 10: S187-S191.
• Kox, AJ (November 1990). H. A. Lorentz's contributions to kinetic gas theory. Annals of Science 47 (6): 591 - 606.
• Kox, AJ (March 1988). H.A. Lorentz: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, the ether, and the general theory of relativity. Archive for History of Exact Sciences 38 (1): 67-78.
• Klein, M. J. (1967) "Letters of wave mechanics: Schrödinger, Planck, Einstein, Lorentz" (ed. K. Przibram), Philosophical Library, New York.
• Langevin, P. (1911) "L'évolution de l'éspace et du temps," Scientia, X, 31-54
• Larmor, J. (1897) "On a dynamical theory of the electric and luminiferous medium," Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. 190, 205-300 (third and last in a series of papers with the same name).
• Macrossan, M. N. (1986) "A note on relativity before Einstein", Brit. J. Phil. Sci., 37, 232-234
• Poincaré, H. (1900) "La théorie de Lorentz et le Principe de Réaction," Archives Neerlandaises, V, 253-78.
• Poincaré, H. (1902) La Science et L'Hypothèse. Quote from the English translation Science and Hypothesis, Walter Scott (1905) as republished unabrodged by Dover 1952, p. 175.
• Poincaré, H. (1905) "Sur la dynamique de l'électron," Comptes Rendues, 140, 1504-8.
• Poincaré, H. (1913) Dernières Pensées Ernest Flammarion 1913. Quote from English translation: Mathematics and Science: Last Essays, Dover 1963.

Papers of Lorentz

• 35 complete and free available publications by Lorentz in the Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam, including the important papers:

1899, Simplified Theory of Electrical and Optical Phenomena in Moving Systems

1900, Considerations on Gravitation

1904, Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any velocity smaller than that of light

1917, On EINSTEIN's Theory of gravitation

See also:

• 1909/1916: The theory of electrons Lorentz's magnum opus
• 1920, The Einstein Theory of Relativity
• 1931, Lectures on Theoretical Physics (vol. I-III)

External links

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. Hendrik Lorentz at the MacTutor archive
• Albert van Helden Hendrik Antoon Lorentz 1853 – 1928 In: K. van Berkel, A. van Helden and L. Palm ed., A History of Science in The Netherlands. Survey, Themes and Reference (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 514-518.
• Hendrik A. Lorentz - Biography at Nobelprize.org.
• Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at the Teylers museum.
• Museum Boerhaave Negen Nederlandse Nobelprijswinnaars
• H.A.M. Snelders, Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1853-1928), in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.
• Biography of H.A. Lorentz (1853 – 1928) at the National library of the Netherlands.
• Professor Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
• Pim de Bie, prof. dr. H.A. Lorentz Arnhem 18 juli 1853 – Haarlem 4 februari 1928 Gravesite of Hendrik Lorentz.
• Biography at brainparad.com
• Lorentz and the Zuiderzee project
• Movie of Lorentz's funeral
• A.J. Kox Ph.D. students of H.A. Lorentz: 1881-1921

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