35 Facts About Hendrik Lorentz

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz 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.

Hendrik Lorentz derived the Lorentz transformation which Albert Einstein subsequently used to make claims to 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.

Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands, the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz, a well-off horticulturist, and Geertruida van Ginkel.

Hendrik 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.

In 1875, Hendrik Lorentz earned a doctoral degree under Pieter Rijke on a thesis entitled "", in which he refined the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell.

On 17 November 1877, only 24 years of age, Hendrik Lorentz was appointed to the newly established chair in theoretical physics at the University of Leiden.

On 25 January 1878, Hendrik Lorentz delivered his inaugural lecture on "".

Hendrik Lorentz made significant contributions to fields ranging from hydrodynamics to general relativity.

Hendrik Lorentz theorized that atoms might consist of charged particles and suggested that the oscillations of these charged particles were the source of light.

In 1892 and 1895, Hendrik Lorentz worked on describing electromagnetic phenomena in reference frames that move relative to the postulated luminiferous aether.

Hendrik Lorentz discovered that the transition from one to another reference frame could be simplified by using a new time variable that he called local time and which depended on universal time and the location under consideration.

In 1899 and again in 1904, Hendrik Lorentz added time dilation to his transformations and published what Poincare in 1905 named Hendrik Lorentz transformations.

Larmor's and Hendrik Lorentz's equations look somewhat dissimilar, but they are algebraically equivalent to those presented by Poincare and Einstein in 1905.

In 1905, Einstein would use many of the concepts, mathematical tools and results Hendrik Lorentz discussed to write his paper entitled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", known today as the special theory of relativity.

Hendrik Lorentz published a series of papers dealing with what he called "Einstein's principle of relativity".

Hendrik Lorentz's results concerning electromagnetic and optical phenomena agree in the main with those which we have obtained in the preceding pages, the chief difference being that Einstein simply postulates what we have deduced, with some difficulty and not altogether satisfactorily, from the fundamental equations of the electromagnetic field.

Hendrik Lorentz gave a series of lectures in the Fall of 1926 at Cornell University on the new quantum mechanics; in these he presented Erwin Schrodinger's wave mechanics.

The most satisfactory theory is that of Hendrik Lorentz; it is unquestionably the theory that best explains the known facts, the one that throws into relief the greatest number of known relations.

Hendrik Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911.

Hendrik Lorentz's teaching and management duties at Leiden University were taking up too much of his time, leaving him little time for research.

Hendrik Lorentz remained connected to Leiden University as an external professor, and his "Monday morning lectures" on new developments in theoretical physics soon became legendary.

Hendrik Lorentz initially asked Einstein to succeed him as professor of theoretical physics at Leiden.

Einstein had no regrets in this matter, since the prospect of having to fill Hendrik Lorentz's shoes made him shiver.

Hendrik Lorentz was asked by the Dutch government to chair a committee to calculate some of the effects of the proposed Afsluitdijk flood control dam on water levels in the Waddenzee.

Originally Hendrik Lorentz was only supposed to have a coordinating role in the committee, but it quickly became apparent that Hendrik Lorentz was the only physicist to have any fundamental traction on the problem.

Hendrik Lorentz proposed to start from the basic hydrodynamic equations of motion and solve the problem numerically.

Hendrik Lorentz was the Director of the museum which later became the well-known Rijksmuseum.

Hendrik Lorentz was the designer of the first postage stamps of The Netherlands.

Dr Geertruida Luberta Hendrik Lorentz, the eldest daughter, was a physicist.

Hendrik Lorentz married Professor Wander Johannes de Haas, who was the Director of the Cryogenic Laboratory at the University of Leiden.

In January 1928, Hendrik Lorentz became seriously ill, and died shortly after on 4 February.

Hendrik Lorentz is considered one of the prime representatives of the "Second Dutch Golden Age", a period of several decades surrounding 1900 in which the natural sciences flourished in the Netherlands.

Hendrik Lorentz 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.

Hendrik Lorentz was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 1905.

Hendrik Lorentz was elected an Honorary Member of the Netherlands Chemical Society in 1912.