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Hendrik Lorentz

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (/ˈlɒrənts/; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He derived the Lorentz transformation of the special theory of relativity, as well as the Lorentz force, which describes the combined electric and magnetic forces acting on a charged particle in an electromagnetic field. Lorentz was also responsible for the Lorentz oscillator model, a classical model used to describe the anomalous dispersion observed in dielectric materials when the driving frequency of the electric field was near the resonant frequency, resulting in abnormal refractive indices.

For the Dutch explorer, see Hendrikus Albertus Lorentz.

According to the biography published by the Nobel Foundation, "It may well be said that Lorentz was regarded by all theoretical physicists as the world's leading spirit, who completed what was left unfinished by his predecessors and prepared the ground for the fruitful reception of the new ideas based on the quantum theory."[2] He received many other honours and distinctions, including a term as chairman of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation,[3] the forerunner of UNESCO, between 1925 and 1928. He was the father and doctoral advisor of Geertruida de Haas-Lorentz.

Biography[edit]

Early life and education[edit]

Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands, the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822–1893), a well-off horticulturist, and Geertruida van Ginkel (1826–1861). In 1862, after his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes. Despite being raised as a Protestant, he was a freethinker in religious matters and regularly attended Catholic mass in his local French church.[B 1] From 1866 to 1869, he attended the "Hogere Burgerschool" in Arnhem, a new type of public high school recently established by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke. His results in school were exemplary; not only did he excel in the physical sciences and mathematics, but also in English, French, and German. In 1870, he passed the exams in classical languages which were then required for admission to University.[B 2]


Lorentz studied physics and mathematics at Leiden University, 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 1871 to teach night school classes in mathematics, but he continued his studies in Leiden in addition 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.[B 2][4]

Many papers by Lorentz (mostly in English) are available for online viewing .

in the Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1900), , Proc. Acad. Science Amsterdam, 2: 559–74

"Considerations on Gravitation"

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1927–1931), Lectures on Theoretical Physics (vol. I–III), New York: Macmillan & Co., ()

Vol. I online

Quotations related to Hendrik Lorentz at Wikiquote

Media related to Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at Wikimedia Commons

Scanned publications of H. A. Lorentz

of the students of Lorentz.

Scanned Ph.D. theses

on Nobelprize.org

Hendrik Lorentz

at Project Gutenberg

Works by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

at Internet Archive

Works by or about Hendrik Lorentz

at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Works by Hendrik Lorentz

Beenakker, Carlo, , Leiden, [The Netherlands]: Instituut Lorentz, University of Leiden

Lorentz and the Zuiderzee project

van Helden, Albert (1999), "Hendrik Antoon Lorentz 1853–1928", in van Berkel, Klaas; van Helden, Albert; Palm, Lodewijk (eds.), , Leiden, [The Netherlands]: Brill, pp. 514–518, ISBN 978-90-04-10006-0

A History of Science in The Netherlands: Survey, Themes and Reference

O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., , retrieved 1 May 2008

Hendrik Lorentz, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

Movie of Lorentz's funeral

in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Newspaper clippings about Hendrik Lorentz