Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

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Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, painted by Menso Kamerlingh Onnes
The grave of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and his wife Aletta in the Klverlaan cemetery in Haarlem.

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (born July 18, 1853 in Arnhem , † February 4, 1928 in Haarlem ) was a Dutch theoretical physicist . With his investigations into the electrodynamics of moving bodies, Lorentz laid the foundations and precursor theories on which Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity was built. Terms such as Lorentz force and Lorentz transformation were named after him.

Due to the similarity of the name, when it comes to naming it is often confused with the Danish physicist Ludvig Lorenz , after whom, for example, the Lorenz calibration and the Lorenz-Mie theory were named. The Lorenz attractor is named after the American meteorologist Edward N. Lorenz .

Life

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was born on July 18, 1853 as the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz and Geertruida van Ginkel in Arnhem. After his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes in 1862. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz went to the University of Leiden in 1870 , completed his studies in mathematics and physics in 1871 and returned to his hometown. There he found a job teaching evening classes at the high school he had attended. During this time he did his doctoral thesis on diffraction and refraction of light and received his doctorate in 1875 at the age of 22. In 1878, as professor of theoretical physics, he occupied a specially set up for him chair at the University of Leiden, to which he remained loyal throughout his life. In 1899/1900 he was the rector of the university .

There was a friendship between Lorentz and the Göttingen physicist Emil Wiechert for years. Lorentz explained the development of the principle of relativity to Wiechert in several letters and thus made an important contribution to the history of Einstein's theory. The correspondence between Lorentz and Wiechert was published by Wilfried Schröder in Arch. Hist. Ex. Sci published in 1984.

Lorentz married Aletta Catharina Kaiser in 1881, whose father Johann Wilhelm Kaiser (1813-1900) was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts and director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam . They had two daughters and a son. His eldest daughter Geertruida Luberta Lorentz also studied physics and was married to Wander Johannes de Haas .

Services

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz is regarded as the leading figure in theoretical physics of his time, who developed the electromagnetic theory of light and the electron theory of matter and also formulated a consistent theory of electricity , magnetism and light .

Already at the beginning of his scientific work he was concerned with the expansion of Maxwell's theory of electricity and light. He already introduced new concepts in his doctoral thesis and his further work in this area revolutionized the conception of the nature of matter. In 1878 he published a study of the relationship between the speed of light and the density and composition of the medium it passed through.

One focus of Lorentz's work was the movement of electrically charged particles. He postulated the concept of the electron as a carrier of electrical charge and was thus able to explain the behavior of light when it passes through transparent bodies.

For the explanation of the Zeeman effect , Lorentz and the Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1902 in recognition of “the extraordinary merit that they have earned through their investigations into the influence of magnetism on radiation phenomena” and their “pioneering work on the connection between optical and electromagnetic phenomena ”. Lorentz argued in the Nobel Speech entirely in the spirit of his ethereal ideas, which is why he says in the introduction:

"I will have very little to say about ponderable matter, but all the more about ether and electrons."

- Free translation of the Engl. Original text of his Nobel speech

In 1903 Lorentz was accepted as a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in Paris (since November 1910 associé étranger ) and in 1905 in the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1906 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen and the National Academy of Sciences . In 1908 he gave a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rome ( Le partage de l'énergie entre la matière pondérable et l'éther ). In 1910 he became a corresponding and in 1925 honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences . In 1912 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1920 an honorary member ( Honorary Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

Lorentz was appointed in 1919 as head of the committee that the part of planning Afsluitdijk the Zuiderzee should generally calculate its effect on the tides along the North Sea coast and the water table in the area. In particular, it was unclear how much the dykes on the Wadden Sea had to be raised with estimates of 15 cm to 4 m. The measures were necessary because the last catastrophic flooding occurred in 1916. Lorentz was already retired at the beginning of his investigation (only once a week on Mondays he drove to Leiden to give a lecture on theoretical physics) and initially shied away from the complex task. Contrary to expectations, however, he succeeded in simplifying the problem to such an extent that Jo Thijsse (1893–1984) could do the calculation as a human computer (computers were not yet available). Lorentz had initially tried numerical calculation, but gave up after a few mistakes and left Thijsse to do it. For this too, the numerical calculation was at the limit of what was feasible at the time. Lorentz did not live to see the completion of the final dike (1933). One of the barriers on the Zuiderzee bears his name. Lorentz was involved in the project from 1918 to 1926 and the theoretical calculations carried out were confirmed by decades of practice after the dikes were built.

Lorentz was in the International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation , a body of the League of Nations, from 1926 the chairman as successor to Henri Bergson .

A moon crater is named after Hendrik Antoon Lorentz .

theory of relativity

From Lorentz to Einstein

As part of his electron theory, Lorentz developed the concept of a completely resting ether that remained unaffected by matter. In this model the speed of light was independent of the speed of the light source, as this was only constant in relation to the aether. The latter would however have to lead to the fact that matter moved relative to the ether runs towards or away from the light (“ether wind”). However, this effect could not be proven experimentally (e.g. the Michelson-Morley experiment ). Therefore, in 1892 Lorentz introduced the assumption that moving matter is shortened in the ether (the same hypothesis being proposed by George Francis FitzGerald in 1889 ). The FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction hypothesis ( length contraction ), however, was insufficient on its own to explain all the negative aether wind experiments, so Lorentz in several works (1892, 1895, 1899, 1904), the Lorentz transformation developed, whereby not only the length but also the time co-ordinates were dependent on the position of the moving matter in the ether ("local time"). For Lorentz this was initially a mere auxiliary variable with no physical content, but Henri Poincaré was able to show in 1900 that local time occurs precisely when moving observers in the ether synchronize their clocks with light signals. It was also Poincaré who mathematically completed Lorentz's theory in 1905.

Lorentz's electrodynamics now formed the basis on which Albert Einstein was able to establish the special theory of relativity . Einstein (who only knew Lorentz's work until 1895) removed the basic asymmetry in Lorentz's theory: On the one hand, there was an "absolute" or preferred reference system with the aether at rest, on the other hand, all experiments spoke for the validity of the principle of relativity , which is in the Lorentzian ether theory could only be compensated with auxiliary hypotheses. Einstein now recognized that one only had to combine Lorentz's essential knowledge, namely the independence of the speed of light from the source, with the principle of relativity in order to construct a consistent electrodynamics of moving bodies. Einstein wrote in 1912:

“It is generally known that a theory of the laws of transformation of space and time cannot be based on the principle of relativity alone. As is well known, this has to do with the relativity of the terms “simultaneity” and “shape of moving bodies”. In order to fill this gap, I introduced the principle of the constancy of the speed of light, borrowed from HA Lorentz's theory of the quiescent light ether, which, like the principle of relativity, contains a physical assumption that only appeared to be justified by relevant experience (experiments by Fizeau, Rowland, etc.) . "

So there was no more space for a “resting” ether. It was essential to realize that there is no “true” time in contrast to “local time”, but that every time in the various inertial systems can be regarded as time per se. That is, although the Lorentzian ether theory and the special relativity theory have the Lorentz transformation in common and thus cannot be differentiated experimentally, the clear and transparent concept of Einstein's theory was already in the first years after 1905 compared to the theory interspersed with auxiliary hypotheses by Lorentz and Poincaré. Regardless of this, the essential achievements of Lorentz for the preparation of the theory of relativity will continue to be recognized, which is shown in the fact that important terms of the theory of relativity (such as Lorentz transformation, Lorentz contraction, Lorentz invariance etc.) continue to bear his name.

Position on the special theory of relativity

After Einstein and Poincaré, Lorentz in 1906 (published in 1909) also brought his theory to a level where it became experimentally equivalent to the theory of relativity in all respects. Lorentz admitted that Einstein's principle of relativity was a great achievement, with which many results of the theory can be obtained very easily, while Lorentz could only obtain the same results by cumbersome deductions from the electromagnetic theory. Nevertheless, Lorentz stuck to the idea of ​​an absolute ether and an absolute simultaneity and claimed that the postulate of constancy of light could possibly represent too great a limitation for research. But a sharp criticism of the theory of relativity (apart from these carefully formulated remarks) was never made by Lorentz - because since his theory and the theory of relativity are experimentally indistinguishable, it is in his opinion a mere "matter of taste" which of the two theories one accepts . In his publications he treated both views equally, and showed a deep understanding of the kinematics of the theory of relativity. He demonstrated the consistency of the symmetry of the relativistic effects in lectures between 1910 and 1912 (published in 1929):

"The behavior of the rules and clocks, their shortening or slowing down during the translational movement gives rise to a strange paradox when viewed superficially, but which can be refuted on closer inspection."

For example, two observers who are moving relative to one another can claim that the scales of the other are shorter. The assessment of the rod length is based on the fact that the ends of the rods are measured at the same time. If one takes into account that the assessment of simultaneity is different in each system and one takes into account exactly where and when the measurements of the endpoints are carried out in the respective system, the contradiction does not apply, according to Lorentz. The same applies to time dilation : if everyone claims that the other's clock is going slower, this is possible because two synchronous, stationary clocks are always required to measure the dilation of a moving clock . However, due to the relativity of simultaneity, the clocks cannot be considered synchronous from the perspective of the other system. Thus, both paradoxes can easily be resolved in the sense of the theory of relativity and in further lectures (held in 1913, published in 1914), Lorentz, like Paul Langevin (1911) and Max von Laue (1913) before him, was able to resolve the so-called clock paradox ( twin paradox ) . He showed that a clock that moves away from the place of origin and then returns, slows down compared to a clock that has stayed behind, whereby the view of the moving clock could also be represented with the help of the Doppler effect.

Position on the general theory of relativity

In addition, Lorentz was one of the few who supported Einstein in his work in formulating a general theory of relativity . In 1915, Lorentz published a work in which he attempted to combine Einstein's "design theory" with Hamilton's principle. And after Einstein had finally completed the general theory of relativity, Lorentz congratulated him and published a number of papers (1916–1917), which included important contributions to the further development of the theory. Lorentz was the first who wanted to formulate the general theory of relativity in a coordinate-free, geometric way, which he did not succeed in completely.

In spite of everything, Lorentz stuck to his idea of ​​a dormant ether and said in a letter to Einstein that such an ether was entirely compatible with the general theory of relativity. In his answer Einstein explained that although the gravitational field of the general theory of relativity can be called ether, this is not a material ether of classical physics that possesses a state of motion. Einstein took this further in some semi-popular papers such as: B. a speech in 1920 in honor of Lorentz in Leiden. Since Einstein's term “ether” was only used as another name for the gravitational field in general relativity, this term could not gain acceptance in modern physics.

Lorentz and Einstein

Lorentz and Einstein , photographed by Paul Ehrenfest in front of his house in Leiden

Lorentz and Einstein cherished each other from the beginning, as can be seen not only from the published work but also from their intensive correspondence. Lorentz paid tribute to Einstein's great achievements and proposed him in 1912 as the successor to his chair at the University of Leiden . Conversely, Einstein saw Lorentz as an almost fatherly figure. He wrote about Lorentz:

“ 1909 : I admire this man like no other, I would like to say I love him.
1928 : The enormous importance of his work lies in the fact that it forms the basis of the theory of atoms and the special and general theory of relativity. The special theory was a more detailed exposition of the ideas found in Lorentz's 1895 research.
1954 : The fact that he did not take this step towards the special theory of relativity was simply that it was psychologically impossible for him to renounce the reality of the ether as a material thing (carrier of the electromagnetic field). Anyone who witnessed this time will understand it. "

And Lorentz left no doubt that Einstein is the founder of the theory of relativity:

" 1914 (letter to Einstein): I felt the need for a more general theory that I [1904] later tried to develop and you formulated (and to a lesser extent Poincaré).
1928 : I only viewed my time transformation as a heuristic working hypothesis. So the theory of relativity is Einstein's work alone. And there can be no doubt that he would have found it even if the work of all of his predecessors on the theory of this area had not been done at all. In this sense, his work is independent of the previous theories. "

Works

Wikisource: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz  - Sources and full texts
Wikisource: Hendrik Lorentz  - Sources and full texts (English)

Much of Lorentz's work is available at Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam .

Books by Lorentz:

  • Collected Papers , 9 volumes. Nijhoff, The Hague 1934–1939
  • Selected Works , Nieuwerkerk / Ijssel: Palm Publ., Several volumes (Volume 5 from 1987)
  • Treatises on theoretical physics , Volume 1, Leipzig: Teubner, 1907
  • Anne J. Kox (Ed.): The Scientific Correspondence of HA Lorentz , Volume 1. Springer Verlag, 2008
  • Lectures on theoretical physics at Leiden University . Academic Publishing Society, Leipzig:
    • Volume 1: Theory of Radiation , 1927 (edited by AD Fokker )
    • Volume 2: Kinetic Problems , 1928
    • Volume 3: Ether Theories and Models , 1929
    • Volume 4: The theory of relativity for uniform translations (1910-1912), 1929 (edited by AD Fokker, Hermann Stücklen)
    • Volume 5: Maxwell's theory (1900–1902), 1931 (edited by Hendrik Bremekamp)
    • English edition: Lectures on theoretical physics . Macmillan, Volume 1, 1927 (Aether theories and Aether models, Kinetic Theory) , Volume 1  - Internet Archive
  • Physics textbook for use in academic lectures , Volume 1,2. Barth, Leipzig 1906/07 (Translator Georg Siebert after the 4th edition), Volume 1  - Internet Archive , Volume 2  - Internet Archive
  • Textbook of differential and integral calculus along with an introduction to other parts of mathematics, with special consideration of the needs of science students . Teubner, Leipzig 1915 (later edited by Georg Joos , Theodor Kaluza as advanced mathematics for the practitioner . Barth, Leipzig), archive.org
  • Over de theory of terugkaatsing en breking van het licht: academisch proefschrift . Arnheim 1875 (dissertation by Lorentz in Leiden), archive.org
  • Attempt of a theory of electrical and optical phenomena in moving bodies . EJ Brill, Leiden 1895., reprint Teubner 1906,archive.org
  • Visible and invisible movements: Lectures held at the invitation of the board of directors of the Leiden department of Maatschappij tot nut van't Algemeen in February and March 1901 . Vieweg 1902
  • Results and problems of electron theory: Lecture given on December 20, 1904 at the Electrotechnical Association in Berlin . Springer Verlag, 1906
  • The principle of relativity. Three lectures given at Teyler's Foundation in Haarlem (1913) . BG Teubner, Leipzig / Berlin 1914.(EditorWillem Hendrik Keesom)
  • The theory of electrons and its applications to the phenomena of light and radiant heat . BG Teubner, Leipzig & Berlin 1916.
  • Otto Blumenthal , Arnold Sommerfeld (editor): Einstein, Minkowski, Lorentz The principle of relativity . Teubner, 5th edition 1923 and new editions, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 9th edition, 1990, therein by Lorentz:
  • Problems of modern physics; a course of lectures delivered in the California Institute of Technology . Ginn and Company, Boston 1927 (Ed .: Harry Bateman )
  • The Einstein Theory of Relativity . A concise statement . Brentano's, New York 1920, archive.org
  • Karl Przibram (ed.): Schrödinger, Planck, Einstein, Lorentz: Briefe zur Wellenmechanik . Springer, Vienna 1963

Some essays and book contributions:

In 1907 Lorentz published Christian Doppler 's essays for Ostwald's classic in Leipzig.

See also

literature

  • GL de Haas-Lorentz: HA Lorentz. Impressions of his life and work , Amsterdam 1957 (biography of his daughter)
  • Russell McCormmach : Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 8 : Jonathan Homer Lane - Pierre Joseph Macquer . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1973, p. 487-500 .
  • Owen Willans Richardson : Hendrik Antoon Lorentz , J. London Math. Soc., Volume 4, 1929, pp. 183-192.
  • Anne J. Kox : “Een levend kunstwerk”. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, natural record, 1853-1928, Balans, Amsterdam 2019

On Lorentz and the theory of relativity:

  • Albrecht Fölsing: Albert Einstein. A biography . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1993/1995, ISBN 3-518-38990-4 .
  • T. Hirosige: Origins of Lorentz 'Theory of Electrons and the Concept of the Electromagnetic Field , Historical Studies in the physical Sciences, Volume 1, 1969, pp. 151-209.
  • M. Janssen: HA Lorentz's Attempt to Give a Coordinate-free Formulation of the General. Theory of Relativity . In: Studies in the History of General Relativity . Birkhäuser, Boston 1992, ISBN 0-8176-3479-7 , pp. 344-363.
  • L. Kostro: An outline of the history of Einstein's relativistic ether concept . In: Jean Eisenstaedt, Anne J. Kox (eds.): Studies in the history of general relativity , Volume 3. Birkäuser, Boston-Basel-Berlin 1992, ISBN 0-8176-3479-7 , pp. 260-280.
  • Anne J. Kox : Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, the Ether and the General Theory of Relativity , Archive for History of Exact Science, Volume 38 1988, pp. 67-78.
  • Anne J. Kox: Einstein, Lorentz, Leiden and general relativity . In: Class. Quantum Grav. . 10, 1993, p. 187. doi : 10.1088 / 0264-9381 / 10 / S / 020 .
  • Arthur I. Miller: Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905-1911) . Addison-Wesley, Reading 1981, ISBN 0-201-04679-2 .
  • Abraham Pais : "The Lord God is refined ...": Albert Einstein, a scientific biography . Spectrum, Heidelberg 1982/2000, ISBN 3-8274-0529-7 .

A scientific biography of Lorentz by Anne J. Kox is in preparation.

Web links

Commons : Hendrik Antoon Lorentz  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz  - Quotes
Wikiquote: Ether  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilfried Schröder: Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and Emil Wiechert . In: Archive for History of Exact Sciences . tape 30 , no. 2 , June 1984, pp. 167-187 , doi : 10.1007 / BF00330239 .
  2. ↑ Nobel Prize Award 1902
  3. ^ Nobel Presentation Speech
  4. ^ Nobel speech , Stockholm on December 11, 1902, In his speech, which is well worth reading, Lorentz uses the word ether a total of 44 times.
  5. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter L. Académie des sciences, accessed on January 15, 2020 (French).
  6. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724: Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed January 2, 2020 (Russian).
  7. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed January 2, 2020 .
  8. ^ The Zuiderzee project , Lorentz Institute, University of Leiden
  9. ↑ International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. (PDF) 1926, accessed March 24, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Einstein, Albert: Relativity and Gravitation. Reply to a remark by M. Abraham . In: Annals of Physics . 343, No. 10, 1912, pp. 1059-1064.
  11. ↑ a b Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon: The principle of relativity. Three lectures given at Teyler's Foundation in Haarlem (1913) . BG Teubner, Leipzig and Berlin 1914.
  12. ^ Arthur I. Miller: Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905-1911) . Addison-Wesley, Reading 1981, ISBN 0-201-04679-2 .
  13. ↑ Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon: The theory of relativity for uniform translations . In: Lectures on theoretical physics at the University (1910–1912) Leiden , Volume 4. Akad. Verl.-Ges., Leipzig 1929.
  14. ^ Anne J. Kox: Einstein, Lorentz, Leiden and general relativity . In: Class. Quantum Grav. . 10, 1993, p. 187. doi : 10.1088 / 0264-9381 / 10 / S / 020 .
  15. ^ M. Janssen: HA Lorentz's Attempt to Give a Coordinate-free Formulation of the General. Theory of Relativity . In: Studies in the History of General Relativity . Birkhäuser, Boston 1992, ISBN 0-8176-3479-7 , pp. 344-363.
  16. ^ L. Kostro: An outline of the history of Einstein's relativistic ether concept . In: Jean Eisenstaedt, Anne J. Kox (eds.): Studies in the history of general relativity , Volume 3. Birkäuser, Boston-Basel-Berlin 1992, ISBN 0-8176-3479-7 , pp. 260-280.
  17. ^ Albrecht Fölsing: Albert Einstein. A biography . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-518-38990-4 , pp. 246 (letter to Jakob Laub ).
  18. ↑ Abraham Pais : "The Lord God is refined ...": Albert Einstein, a scientific biography . Spectrum, Heidelberg 1982/2000, ISBN 3-8274-0529-7 .
  19. ^ Albrecht Fölsing: Albert Einstein. A biography . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-518-38990-4 , pp. 251 .
  20. ↑ Abraham Pais : "The Lord God is refined ...": Albert Einstein, a scientific biography . Spectrum, Heidelberg 2000, ISBN 3-8274-0529-7 , p. 168 (first edition: 1982, letter to Einstein).
  21. ↑ “ I considered my time transformation only as a heuristic working hypothesis. So the theory of relativity is really solely Einstein's work. And there can be no doubt that he would have conceived it even if the work of all his predecessors in the theory of this field had not been done at all. His work is in this respect independent of the previous theories. ” Hendrik Antoon Lorentz: The Relativity Theory for Uniform Translations . In: Lectures on theoretical physics at the University (1910–1912) Leiden , Volume 4. Akad. Verl.-Ges, Leipzig 1929.
personal data
SURNAME Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch mathematician and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1853
PLACE OF BIRTH Arnhem
DATE OF DEATH February 4, 1928
Place of death Haarlem