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Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz.jpg
Born (1853-07-18)18 July 1853
Died 4 February 1928(1928-02-04) (aged 74)
Haarlem, Netherlands
Nationality Netherlands
Alma mater University of Leiden
Known for Lorentz transformation
Theory of EM radiation
Lorentz force
Lorentz contraction
Awards Nobel Prize for Physics (1902)
Rumford Medal (1908)
Franklin Medal (1917)
Copley Medal (1918)
Scientific career
Fields Physics
Doctoral advisor Pieter Rijke
Doctoral students Geertruida L. de Haas-Lorentz
Adriaan Fokker
Leonard Ornstein
Hendrika Johanna van Leeuwen

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (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.

Biography

Early life

Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland (The Netherlands), the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822–1893). In 1862, after his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes.

Career

Lorentz and special relativity

Einstein en Lorentz
Albert Einstein and Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, photographed by Ehrenfest in front of his home in Leiden in 1921.

In 1905, Einstein would use many of the concepts to write his paper entitled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", known today as the theory of special relativity. Because Lorentz laid the fundamentals for the work by Einstein, this theory was originally called the Lorentz-Einstein theory.

Lorentz and general relativity

Lorentz was one of few scientists who supported Einstein's search for general relativity from the beginning – he wrote several research papers and discussed with Einstein personally and by letter. For instance, he attempted to combine Einstein's formalism with Hamilton's principle (1915).

Death

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

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See also

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