亨德里克·洛伦兹Hendrik Lorentz

亨德里克·洛伦兹在阿纳姆的蒂默先生小学就读，直到13岁进入当地的新高中。他于1870年进入莱顿大学，但1872年返回阿纳姆，开始教授夜校课程。他在担任教职期间攻读博士学位。

洛伦兹在其1875年提交的博士论文The theory of the reflection and 折射 of light中完善了詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦的电磁理论。他于1878年被任命为莱顿大学数学物理教授。他一直担任此职，直到1912年退休，当时保罗·埃伦费斯特被任命接替他的讲席。从该讲席退休后，洛伦兹被任命为哈勒姆泰勒研究所的研究主任。然而，他保留了莱顿大学的荣誉职位，并继续在那里授课。

在电子的存在被证实之前，洛伦兹提出光波源于原子中电荷的振荡。洛伦兹发展了他的电子数学理论，并因此于1902年获得诺贝尔奖。诺贝尔奖联合授予了洛伦兹和Pieter Zeeman，后者是洛伦兹的学生。埃里克·克里斯托弗·齐曼通过测量所产生的光的波长变化，实验验证了洛伦兹关于原子结构的理论工作，展示了强磁场对振荡的影响。

洛伦兹还以其关于乔治·斐兹杰惹-洛伦兹收缩的工作而闻名，这是物体在相对论速度下长度的收缩。他于1904年引入的洛伦兹变换构成了阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦狭义相对论的基础。它们描述了以接近光速运动物体的质量增加、长度缩短和时间膨胀。

洛伦兹是1911年秋天在布鲁塞尔举行的第一届索尔维会议的主席。这次会议审视了有两种方法的问题，即经典物理学的方法和quantum theory的方法。然而洛伦兹从未完全接受量子理论，并始终希望有可能将其重新纳入经典方法。他在会议开幕式的主席致辞中说：-

在这一阶段，能量元的美妙假说在我们看来像一道奇妙的光芒，它首先由马克斯·普朗克阐述，然后由阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦和能斯特等人扩展到许多现象。它为我们打开了意想不到的视野，即使那些带着某种怀疑看待它的人，也必须承认它的重要性和丰硕性。

洛伦兹众多出版物中的一些在[3]中被突出介绍：-

在一部早期回忆录中，这部回忆录后来变得著名，洛伦兹 首次将关于离散分子的考虑应用于电在物体中的传播，并附带得出了每种物质独立于其密度的合理反射当量。1884年，他开始研究磁化对反射光偏振的影响。他的“Théorie Electromagnétique de Maxwell et son application auz Corps Mouvants”Ⓣ（麦克斯韦的电磁理论及其对运动物体的应用）和“Versuch einer Theorie der Elektrischen und Optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Körpern”Ⓣ（走向运动物体中电学和光学现象的理论）分别于1892年和1895年出版。它们体现了电动力学相对性原理的首次系统出现，1920年他出版了“阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦 相对论：简明陈述”。1909年，他出版了基于在哥伦比亚大学一系列讲座的“电子理论”，1916年，他在莱比锡以法语出版了一部统计热力学理论的论述，基于1912年在法兰西学院所作的讲座。他的大学讲座版本，题为“理论物理学课程”，从1919年开始在他的监督下出版。他还是微分和积分微积分教科书的作者；“可见和不可见的运动”，1901年；以及“克拉克·麦克斯韦的电磁理论”，1924年。

在7中，O W Richardson将洛伦兹描述为：-

……一位智力非凡的人……。尽管他沉浸于自己当下的研究，他似乎总能立即把握住它向宇宙各个角落的延伸。……他著作的异常清晰，正是他在这一方面惊人能力的鲜明反映。……他拥有并成功运用了那种心智的活跃——这是跟进讨论互动所必需的，那种洞察力——这是提取那些阐明真正困难的陈述所必需的，以及那种智慧——将讨论引向富有成果的渠道，而且他做得如此巧妙，以至于这一过程几乎难以察觉。

洛伦兹因其杰出工作获得了大量荣誉。他于1905年当选为皇家学会会士。该学会于1908年授予他伦福德奖章，并于1918年授予他科普利奖章。

洛伦兹在荷兰所受到的尊敬，从Richardson对其葬礼的描述中可见一斑[7]：-

葬礼于2月10日星期五中午在哈勒姆举行。十二点整，荷兰的国家电报和电话服务暂停了三分钟，以作为对荷兰在我们时代所产生的最伟大人物表示敬意的致敬。许多同事和来自外国的杰出物理学家参加了葬礼。主席Ernest Rutherford爵士代表皇家学会，在墓旁作了充满赞赏的悼词。

Hendrik Lorentz attended Mr Timmer's Primary School in Arnhem until he was 13 years of age when he entered the new High School there. He entered the University of Leiden in 1870 but, in 1872, he returned to Arnhem to take up teaching evening classes. He worked for his doctorate while holding the teaching post.

Lorentz refined Maxwell's electromagnetic theory in his doctoral thesis The theory of the reflection and refraction of light presented in 1875. He was appointed professor of mathematical physics at Leiden University in 1878. He remained in this post until he retired in 1912 when Ehrenfest was appointed to his chair. After retiring from this chair, Lorentz was appointed director of research at the Teyler Institute, Haarlem. However, he retained an honorary position at Leiden, where he continued to lecture.

Before the existence of electrons was proved, Lorentz proposed that light waves were due to oscillations of an electric charge in the atom. Lorentz developed his mathematical theory of the electron for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1902. The Nobel prize was awarded jointly to Lorentz and Pieter Zeeman, a student of Lorentz. Zeeman had verified experimentally Lorentz's theoretical work on atomic structure, demonstrating the effect of a strong magnetic field on the oscillations by measuring the change in the wavelength of the light produced.

Lorentz is also famed for his work on the FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction, which is a contraction in the length of an object at relativistic speeds. Lorentz transformations, which he introduced in 1904, form the basis of Einstein's special theory of relativity. They describe the increase of mass, the shortening of length, and the time dilation of a body moving at speeds close to the velocity of light.

Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911. This conference looked at the problems of having two approaches, namely that of classical physics and of quantum theory. However Lorentz never fully accepted quantum theory and always hoped that it would be possible to incorporate it back into the classical approach. He said in his presidential address at the opening ceremony of the conference:-

In this stage of affairs there appeared to us like a wonderful ray of light the beautiful hypothesis of energy elements which was first expounded by Planck and then extended by Einstein and Nernst, and others to many phenomena. It has opened for us unexpected vistas, even those, who consider it with a certain suspicion, must admit its importance and fruitfulness.

Some of Lorentz's numerous publications are highlighted in [3]:-

In an early memoir, which became famous, Lorentz applied for the first time considerations relating to discrete molecules to electric propagation in material bodies, and incidentally arrived at a rational reflection-equivalent for each substance independent of its density. In 1884 he began to study the effect which magnetization exerts on the polarization of reflected light. His "Théorie Electromagnétique de Maxwell et son application auz Corps Mouvants" Ⓣ and his "Versuch einer Theorie der Elektrischen und Optischen Erscheinungen in bewegten Körpern" Ⓣ were published in 1892 and 1895 respectively. They embodied the first systematic appearance of the electrodynamic principle of relativity, and in 1920 he brought out "The Einstein Theory of Relativity: A Concise Statement". In 1909 he published his "Theory of Electrons", based on a series of lectures at Columbia University, and in 1916 he published in French at Leipzig an account of statistical thermodynamic theories, based on lectures delivered at the Collège de France in 1912. An edition of his University lectures, entitled "Lessons on Theoretical Physics", began to appear, under his supervision, in 1919. He was also the author of a textbook of the differential and integral calculus; "Visible and Invisible Movements", 1901; and "Clerk Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory", 1924.

In [7] O W 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 skilfully that the process was hardly perceptible.

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 their Rumford Medal in 1908 and their Copley Medal in 1918.

The respect in which Lorentz was held in The Netherlands is seen in Richardson's description of his funeral [7]:-

The funeral took place at Haarlem at noon on Friday, 10 February. 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.