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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 Hendrik Lorentz
Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and
theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He also derived the
transformation equations underpinning Albert Einstein's special
theory of relativity.

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 honours and distinctions, including
a term as chairman of the International Committee on
Intellectual Cooperation,[3] the forerunner of UNESCO, between
1925 and 1928.

Contents in front of a blackboard with his formulas


from Einstein's general theory of relativity
Biography
Born 18 July 1853
Early life
Arnhem, Netherlands
Career
Professor in Leiden Died 4 February 1928
Electrodynamics and relativity (aged 74)
Lorentz and special relativity Haarlem, Netherlands

Lorentz and general relativity Nationality Dutch


Lorentz and quantum mechanics Alma mater University of Leiden
Assessments Known for Lorentz
Change of priorities transformation
Civil work
Lorentz ether theory
Family life
Theory of EM
Death
radiation
Legacy Lorentz force
See also Lorentz contraction
References Lorentzian metric
Primary sources
Lorentz factor
Secondary sources
Rayleigh–Lorentz
External links pendulum
Awards Nobel Prize for

Biography Physics (1902)


ForMemRS (1905)[1]
Rumford Medal
Early life (1908)
Franklin Medal (1917)
Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands,
the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822–1893), a well-off Copley Medal (1918)
horticulturist, and Geertruida van Ginkel (1826–1861). In 1862, Scientific career
after his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes.
Fields Physics
Despite being raised as a Protestant, he was a freethinker in
religious matters.[B 1] From 1866 to 1869, he attended the Institutions University of Leiden
"Hogere Burger School" in Arnhem, a new type of public high Doctoral Pieter Rijke
school recently established by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke. His advisor
results in school were exemplary; not only did he excel in the
physical sciences and mathematics, but also in English, French, Doctoral Geertruida L. de
and German. In 1870, he passed the exams in classical languages students Haas-Lorentz
which were then required for admission to University.[B 2] Adriaan Fokker
Leonard Ornstein
Lorentz studied physics and mathematics at Leiden University,
where he was strongly influenced by the teaching of astronomy Hendrika Johanna
professor Frederik Kaiser; it was his influence that led him to van Leeuwen
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]

Career

Professor in Leiden

On 17 November 1877, only 24 years of age, Hendrik Antoon


Lorentz was appointed to the newly established chair in
theoretical physics at the University of Leiden. The position had
initially been offered to Johan van der Waals, but he accepted a
Painting of Hendrik Lorentz by
position at the Universiteit van Amsterdam.[B 2] On 25 January Menso Kamerlingh Onnes, 1916.
1878, Lorentz delivered his inaugural lecture on "De moleculaire
theoriën in de natuurkunde" (The molecular theories in physics).
In 1881, he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5]
During the first twenty years in Leiden, Lorentz was primarily interested in the electromagnetic
theory of electricity, magnetism, and light. After that, he extended
his research to a much wider area while still focusing on
theoretical physics. Lorentz made significant contributions to
fields ranging from hydrodynamics to general relativity. His most
important contributions were in the area of electromagnetism,
the electron theory, and relativity.[B 2]

Lorentz theorized that atoms might consist of charged particles


and suggested that the oscillations of these charged particles were
the source of light. When a colleague and former student of
Lorentz's, Pieter Zeeman, discovered the Zeeman effect in 1896,
Lorentz supplied its theoretical interpretation. The experimental
and theoretical work was honored with the Nobel prize in physics
in 1902. Lorentz' name is now associated with the Lorentz–
Lorenz equation, the Lorentz force, the Lorentzian distribution,
and the Lorentz transformation.
Portrait by Jan Veth.

Electrodynamics and relativity

In 1892 and 1895, Lorentz worked on describing electromagnetic


phenomena (the propagation of light) in reference frames that
move relative to the postulated luminiferous aether.[6][7] He
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. Although Lorentz did not give a
detailed interpretation of the physical significance of local time,
with it, he could explain the aberration of light and the result of
the Fizeau experiment. In 1900 and 1904, Henri Poincaré called
local time Lorentz's "most ingenious idea" and illustrated it by
showing that clocks in moving frames are synchronized by
exchanging light signals that are assumed to travel at the same Lorentz' theory of electrons.
speed against and with the motion of the frame[8][9] (see Einstein Formulas for the Lorentz force (I) and
synchronisation and Relativity of simultaneity). In 1892, with the the Maxwell equations for the
attempt to explain the Michelson–Morley experiment, Lorentz divergence of the electrical field E (II)
also proposed that moving bodies contract in the direction of and the magnetic field B (III), La
motion (see length contraction; George FitzGerald had already théorie electromagnétique de
arrived at this conclusion in 1889).[10] Maxwell et son application aux corps
mouvants, 1892, p. 451. V is the
In 1899 and again in 1904, Lorentz added time dilation to his velocity of light.
transformations and published what Poincaré in 1905 named
Lorentz transformations.[11][12] It was apparently unknown to
Lorentz that Joseph Larmor had used identical transformations to describe orbiting electrons in 1897.
Larmor's and Lorentz's equations look somewhat dissimilar, but they are algebraically equivalent to
those presented by Poincaré and Einstein in 1905.[B 3] Lorentz's 1904 paper includes the covariant
formulation of electrodynamics, in which electrodynamic phenomena in different reference frames
are described by identical equations with well defined transformation properties. The paper clearly
recognizes the significance of this formulation, namely that the outcomes of electrodynamic
experiments do not depend on the relative motion of the reference frame. The 1904 paper includes a
detailed discussion of the increase of the inertial mass of rapidly moving objects in a useless attempt
to make momentum look exactly like Newtonian momentum; it
was also an attempt to explain the length contraction as the
accumulation of "stuff" onto mass making it slow and contract.

Lorentz and special relativity

In 1905, Einstein would use many of the concepts, mathematical


tools and results Lorentz discussed to write his paper entitled "On
the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies",[13] known today as the
special theory of relativity. Because Lorentz laid the fundamentals
for the work by Einstein, this theory was originally called the
Lorentz–Einstein theory.[B 4]

In 1906, Lorentz's electron theory received a full-fledged


treatment in his lectures at Columbia University, published under
the title The Theory of Electrons. Lorentz' theory of electrons.
Formulas for the curl of the magnetic
The increase of mass was the first prediction of Lorentz and field (IV) and the electrical field E (V),
Einstein to be tested, but some experiments by Kaufmann La théorie electromagnétique de
appeared to show a slightly different mass increase; this led Maxwell et son application aux corps
Lorentz to the famous remark that he was "au bout de mon latin" mouvants, 1892, p. 452.
("at the end of my [knowledge of] Latin" = at his wit's end)[14]
The confirmation of his prediction had to wait until 1908 and
later (see Kaufmann–Bucherer–Neumann experiments).

Lorentz published a series of papers dealing with what he called "Einstein's principle of relativity".
For instance, in 1909,[15] 1910,[16][17] 1914.[18] In his 1906 lectures published with additions in 1909 in
the book "The theory of electrons" (updated in 1915), he spoke affirmatively of Einstein's theory:[15]

It will be clear by what has been said that the


impressions received by the two observers A0 and A
would be alike in all respects. It would be impossible
to decide which of them moves or stands still with
respect to the ether, and there would be no reason for
preferring the times and lengths measured by the one
to those determined by the other, nor for saying that
either of them is in possession of the "true" times or
the "true" lengths. This is a point which Einstein has
laid particular stress on, in a theory in which he starts
from what he calls the principle of relativity, I cannot
speak here of the many highly interesting applications
which Einstein has made of this principle. His 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. By doing so, he may certainly
take credit for making us see in the negative result of
experiments like those of Michelson, Rayleigh and
Brace, not a fortuitous compensation of opposing
effects, but the manifestation of a general and
fundamental principle. It would be unjust not to add
that, besides the fascinating boldness of its starting
point, Einstein's theory has another marked
advantage over mine. Whereas I have not been able to
obtain for the equations referred to moving axes
exactly the same form as for those which apply to a
stationary system, Einstein has accomplished this by Albert Einstein and Hendrik Antoon
means of a system of new variables slightly different Lorentz, photographed by Ehrenfest
from those which I have introduced. in front of his home in Leiden in
1921.

Though Lorentz still maintained that there is an (undetectable)


aether in which resting clocks indicate the "true time":

1909: Yet, I think, something may also be claimed in


favour of the form in which I have presented the
theory. I cannot but regard the ether, which can be the
seat of an electromagnetic field with its energy and its
vibrations, as endowed with a certain degree of
substantiality, however different it may be from all
ordinary matter.[15]
Lorentz (left) at the International
1910: Provided that there is an aether, then under all
Committee on Intellectual
systems x, y, z, t, one is preferred by the fact, that the
Cooperation of the League of
coordinate axes as well as the clocks are resting in the
Nations, here with Albert Einstein.
aether. If one connects with this the idea (which I
would abandon only reluctantly) that space and time
are completely different things, and that there is a
"true time" (simultaneity thus would be independent
of the location, in agreement with the circumstance
that we can have the idea of infinitely great velocities),
then it can be easily seen that this true time should be
indicated by clocks at rest in the aether. However, if
the relativity principle had general validity in nature,
one wouldn't be in the position to determine, whether
the reference system just used is the preferred one.
Then one comes to the same results, as if one
(following Einstein and Minkowski) deny the
existence of the aether and of true time, and to see all
reference systems as equally valid. Which of these two
ways of thinking one is following, can surely be left to
the individual.[16]

Lorentz also gave credit to Poincaré's contributions to relativity.[19]

Indeed, for some of the physical quantities which


enter the formulas, I did not indicate the
transformation which suits best. That was done by
Poincaré and then by Mr. Einstein and Minkowski. I
did not succeed in obtaining the exact invariance of
the equations. Poincaré, on the contrary, obtained a
perfect invariance of the equations of electrodynamics,
and he formulated the "postulate of relativity", terms
which he was the first to employ. Let us add that by
correcting the imperfections of my work he never
reproached me for them.

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.[B 5] For instance, he attempted to combine Einstein's
formalism with Hamilton's principle (1915),[20] and to
reformulate it in a coordinate-free way (1916).[21][B 6] Lorentz
His published university lectures in
wrote in 1919:[22]
theoretical physics. Part 1.
Stralingstheorie (1910-1911,
The total eclipse of the sun of May 29, resulted in a Radiation theory) in Dutch, edited by
his student A. D. Fokker, 1919.
striking confirmation of the new theory of the
universal attractive power of gravitation developed by
Albert Einstein, and thus reinforced the conviction
that the defining of this theory is one of the most
important steps ever taken in the domain of natural
science.

Lorentz and quantum mechanics

Lorentz gave a series of lectures in the Fall of 1926 at Cornell University on the new quantum
mechanics; in these he presented Erwin Schrödinger's wave mechanics.[23]
Assessments

Einstein wrote of Lorentz:

1928: The enormous significance of his work consisted


therein, that it forms the basis for the theory of atoms
and for the general and special theories of relativity.
The special theory was a more detailed expose of those
concepts which are found in Lorentz's research of
1895.[B 7] Lorentz-monument Park Sonsbeek in
1953: For me personally he meant more than all the Arnhem, the Netherlands

others I have met on my life's journey.[B 8]

Poincaré (1902) said of Lorentz's theory of electrodynamics:[24]

The most satisfactory theory is that of Lorentz; it is unquestionably the theory that best
explains the known facts, the one that throws into relief the greatest number of known
relations. It is due to Lorentz that the results of Fizeau on the optics of moving bodies, the
laws of normal and abnormal dispersion and of absorption are connected with each other.
Look at the ease with which the new Zeeman phenomenon found its place, and even aided
the classification of Faraday's magnetic rotation, which had defied all Maxwell's efforts.

Paul Langevin (1911) said of Lorentz:[B 9]

It will be Lorentz's main claim to fame that he demonstrated that the fundamental
equations of electromagnetism also allow of a group of transformations that enables them
to resume the same form when a transition is made from one reference system to another.
This group differs fundamentally from the above group as regards transformations of
space and time.''

Lorentz and Emil Wiechert had an interesting correspondence on the topics of electromagnetism and
the theory of relativity, and Lorentz explained his ideas in letters to Wiechert.[B 10]

Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference held in Brussels in the autumn of 1911. Shortly
after the conference, Poincaré wrote an essay on quantum physics which gives an indication of
Lorentz's status at the time:[25]

At every moment the twenty physicists from different countries could be heard talking of
the [quantum mechanics] which they contrasted with the old mechanics. Now what was
the old mechanics? Was it that of Newton, the one which still reigned uncontested at the
close of the nineteenth century? No, it was the mechanics of Lorentz, the one dealing with
the principle of relativity; the one which, hardly five years ago, seemed to be the height of
boldness.
Change of priorities

In 1910, Lorentz decided to reorganize his life. His teaching and management duties at Leiden
University were taking up too much of his time, leaving him little time for research. In 1912, he
resigned from his chair of theoretical physics to become curator of the "Physics Cabinet" at Teylers
Museum in Haarlem. He remained connected to Leiden University as an external professor, and his
"Monday morning lectures" on new developments in theoretical physics soon became legendary.[B 2]

Lorentz initially asked Einstein to succeed him as professor of theoretical physics at Leiden. However,
Einstein could not accept because he had just accepted a position at ETH Zurich. Einstein had no
regrets in this matter, since the prospect of having to fill Lorentz's shoes made him shiver. Instead
Lorentz appointed Paul Ehrenfest as his successor in the chair of theoretical physics at the Leiden
University, who would found the Institute for Theoretical Physics which would become known as the
Lorentz Institute.[B 2]

Civil work

After World War I, Lorentz was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the
"Wetenschappelijke Commissie van Advies en Onderzoek in het Belang van Volkswelvaart en
Weerbaarheid", a committee which was to harness the scientific potential united in the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for solving civil problems such as food shortage
which had resulted from the war. Lorentz was appointed chair of the committee. However, despite the
best efforts of many of the participants the committee would harvest little success. The only exception
being that it ultimately resulted in the founding of TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied
Scientific Research.[B 2]

Lorentz was also asked by the Dutch government to chair a committee to calculate some of the effects
of the proposed Afsluitdijk (Enclosure Dam) flood control dam on water levels in the Waddenzee.
Hydraulic engineering was mainly an empirical science at that time, but the disturbance of the tidal
flow caused by the Afsluitdijk was so unprecedented that the empirical rules could not be trusted.
Originally Lorentz was only supposed to have a coordinating role in the committee, but it quickly
became apparent that Lorentz was the only physicist to have any fundamental traction on the
problem. In the period 1918 till 1926, Lorentz invested a large portion of his time in the problem.[26]
Lorentz proposed to start from the basic hydrodynamic equations of motion and solve the problem
numerically. This was feasible for a "human computer", because of the quasi-one-dimensional nature
of the water flow in the Waddenzee. The Afsluitdijk was completed in 1932, and the predictions of
Lorentz and his committee turned out to be remarkably accurate.[B 11][B 2] One of the two sets of locks
in the Afsluitdijk was named after him.

Family life
In 1881, Lorentz married Aletta Catharina Kaiser. Her father was J.W. Kaiser, a professor at the
Academy of Fine Arts. He was the Director of the museum which later became the well-known
Rijksmuseum (National Gallery). He also was the designer of the first postage stamps of The
Netherlands.

There were two daughters, and one son from this marriage.

Dr. Geertruida Luberta Lorentz, the eldest daughter, was a physicist. She married Professor Wander
Johannes de Haas, who was the Director of the Cryogenic Laboratory at the University of Leiden.[27]

Death

In January 1928, Lorentz became seriously ill, and died shortly after on 4 February.[B 2] The respect in
which he was held in the Netherlands is apparent from Owen Willans Richardson's description of his
funeral:

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

— O. W. Richardson[B 12]

Unique 1928 film footage of the funeral procession with a lead carriage followed by ten mourners,
followed by a carriage with the coffin, followed in turn by at least four more carriages, passing by a
crowd at the Grote Markt, Haarlem from the Zijlstraat to the Smedestraat, and then back again
through the Grote Houtstraat towards the Barteljorisstraat, on the way to the "Algemene
Begraafplaats" at the Kleverlaan (northern Haarlem cemetery) has been digitized on YouTube.[B 13]
Amongst others, the funeral was attended by Albert Einstein and Marie Curie.[28] Einstein gave a
eulogy at a memorial service at Leiden University.

Legacy
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.[B 2]

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 skillfully that the
process was hardly perceptible.[B 12]
M. J. Klein (1967) wrote of Lorentz's reputation in the 1920s:

For many years physicists had always been eager "to hear what Lorentz will say about it"
when a new theory was advanced, and, even at seventy-two, he did not disappoint
them.[B 14]

In addition to the Nobel prize, Lorentz received a great many honours for his outstanding work. He
was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1905.[1] The Society awarded him
their Rumford Medal in 1908 and their Copley Medal in 1918. He was elected an Honorary Member of
the Netherlands Chemical Society in 1912.[29]

See also
List of things named after Hendrik Antoon Lorentz
Geertruida de Haas-Lorentz
Lorentz (crater)
Lorentz factor
Lorentz force
Lorentz Medal

References
1. "Fellows of the Royal Society" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150316060617/https://royalsociety.
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2. Hendrik A. Lorentz – Biographical (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1902/lorentz/biograp
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corps mouvants" (https://archive.org/details/lathorielectrom00loregoog), Archives Néerlandaises
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Erscheinungen in bewegten Körpern (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/de:Versuch_einer_Theorie_d
er_electrischen_und_optischen_Erscheinungen_in_bewegten_K%C3%B6rpern), Leiden: E.J. Brill
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kisource.org/wiki/Translation:The_Relative_Motion_of_the_Earth_and_the_Aether), Zittingsverlag
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Moving Systems" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Simplified_Theory_of_Electrical_and_Optical_Ph
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Sciences, 1: 427–442, Bibcode:1898KNAB....1..427L (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1898KN
AB....1..427L)
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velocity smaller than that of light" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_phenomena),
Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 6: 809–831,
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/annalen/history/einstein-papers/1905_17_891-921.pdf) (PDF), Annalen der Physik, 322 (10):
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besondere physikalische Erscheinungen" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Das_Relativit%C3%A4ts
prinzip_und_seine_Anwendung). In Blumenthal, Otto; Sommerfeld, Arnold (eds.). Das
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Physical Phenomena
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18. Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1914). Das Relativitätsprinzip. Drei Vorlesungen gehalten in Teylers
Stiftung zu Haarlem (1913) (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/de:Das_Relativit%C3%A4tsprinzip_(Lo
rentz)). Leipzig and Berlin: B.G. Teubner.
19. Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1921) [1914], "Deux Mémoires de Henri Poincaré sur la Physique
Mathématique" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/fr:Deux_M%C3%A9moires_de_Henri_Poincar%C3
%A9_sur_la_Physique_Math%C3%A9matique), Acta Mathematica, 38 (1): 293–308,
doi:10.1007/BF02392073 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02392073)
English Wikisource translation: Two Papers of Henri Poincaré on Mathematical Physics
20. Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1915), "On Hamilton's principle in Einstein's theory of gravitation" (https
://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Hamilton%27s_principle_in_Einstein%27s_theory_of_gravitation),
Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 19: 751–765,
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rg/wiki/On_Einstein%27s_Theory_of_gravitation), Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands
Academy of Arts and Sciences, 19/20: 1341–1361, 2–34
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The_Einstein_Theory_of_Relativity), New York: Bentano's
23. Lorentz, H. A. (1926). The New Quantum Theory (http://labs.plantbio.cornell.edu/wayne/pdfs/The
QuantumTheory.pdf) (PDF). Ithaca, NY: Typescript of Lecture Notes. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
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Scott publishing Co.
25. Poincaré, Henri (1913), Last Essays, New York
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and-old-man-of-physics/). 13 March 2000.
27. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1902" (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1902/lorentz/biogra
phical/). NobelPrize.org.
28. "Treffende begrafenis van Lorentz" (http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:110565430:mpeg21:p00
5) [Striking funeral of Lorentz]. De Telegraaf (in Dutch). Haarlem. 9 February 1928. "Mme. Curie
uit Parijs; ... prof. dr. A. Einstein uit Berlijn;"
29. Honorary members (https://en.kncv.nl/kncv/honorary-members) – website of the Royal
Netherlands Chemical Society

Primary sources
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 (http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/toegan
gen/digital-library-knaw/?pagetype=publist&search_author=PE00001670).
Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1900), "Considerations on Gravitation" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Co
nsiderations_on_Gravitation), Proc. Acad. Science Amsterdam, 2: 559–74
Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon (1927–1931), Lectures on Theoretical Physics (vol. I–III), New York:
Macmillan & Co., (Vol. I online (https://archive.org/details/lecturesontheore031600mbp))

Secondary sources
1. Russell McCormmach. "Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Hendrik_An
toon_Lorentz.aspx). Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
"Although he grew up in Protestant circles, he was a freethinker in religious matters; he regularly
attended the local French church to improve his French."
2. Kox, Anne J. (2011). "Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (in Dutch)". Nederlands Tijdschirft voor
Natuurkunde. 77 (12): 441.
3. Macrossan, Michael N. (1986), "A note on relativity before Einstein" (http://espace.library.uq.edu.a
u/view.php?pid=UQ:9560), Br. J. Philos. Sci., 37 (2): 232–34, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.679.5898 (https://c
iteseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.679.5898), doi:10.1093/bjps/37.2.232 (https://d
iteseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.679.5898), doi:10.1093/bjps/37.2.232 (https://d
oi.org/10.1093%2Fbjps%2F37.2.232)
4. Miller, Arthur I. (1981). Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early
interpretation (1905–1911) (https://archive.org/details/alberteinsteinss0000mill). Reading:
Addison–Wesley. ISBN 978-0-201-04679-3.
5. Kox, A.J. (1993). "Einstein, Lorentz, Leiden and general relativity". Class. Quantum Grav. 10:
S187–S191. Bibcode:1993CQGra..10S.187K (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993CQGra..10
S.187K). doi:10.1088/0264-9381/10/S/020 (https://doi.org/10.1088%2F0264-9381%2F10%2FS%
2F020).
6. Janssen, M. (1992). "H. A. Lorentz's Attempt to Give a Coordinate-free Formulation of the
General. Theory of Relativity.". Studies in the History of General Relativity. Boston: Birkhäuser.
pp. 344–363. ISBN 978-0817634797.
7. Pais, Abraham (1982), Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, New York:
Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-520438-4
8. Justin Wintle (2002). Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture: 1800–1914 (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=EF2fKDpp8S8C&pg=PA375). Routledge. pp. 375–. ISBN 978-0-415-26584-3.
Retrieved 25 July 2012.
9. Langevin, P. (1911), "The evolution of space and time" (http://amshistorica.unibo.it/diglib.php?inv=
7&int_ptnum=108&term_ptnum=302), Scientia, X: 31–54 (translated by J. B. Sykes, 1973).
10. (Arch. ex. hist. Sci, 1984).
11. "Carlo Beenakker" (http://ilorentz.org/history/zuiderzee/zuiderzee.html). Ilorentz.org. Retrieved
1 February 2012.
12. Richardson, O. W. (1929), "Hendrik Antoon Lorentz", J. London Math. Soc., 4 (1): 183–92,
doi:10.1112/jlms/s1-4.3.183 (https://doi.org/10.1112%2Fjlms%2Fs1-4.3.183). The biography which
refers to this article (but gives no pagination details other than those of the article itself) is
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Hendrik Lorentz" (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.a
c.uk/Biographies/Lorentz.html), MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St
Andrews.
13. Funeral procession (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2VtrJD0xJk) on YouTube Hendrik
Lorentz
14. Przibram, Karl, ed. (1967), Letters of wave mechanics: Schrödinger, Planck, Einstein, Lorentz.
Edited by Karl Przibram for the Austrian Academy of Sciences, translated by Klein, Martin J., New
York: Philosophical Library

de Haas-Lorentz, Geertruida L.; Fagginger Auer, Joh. C. (trans.) (1957), H.A. Lorentz:
impressions of his life and work, Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co.
Langevin, Paul (1911), "L'évolution de l'espace et du temps", Scientia, X: 31–54
Poincaré, Henri (1900), "La théorie de Lorentz et le principe de réaction", Archives Néerlandaises
des Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, V: 253–78 See English translation (http://www.physicsinsight
s.org/poincare-1900.pdf).
Poincaré, Henri (1902), La science et l'hypothèse, Paris: Ernest Flammarion : n.p.. The quotation
is from the English translation (Poincaré, Henri (1952), Science and hypothesis, New York: Dover
Publications, p. 175)
Poincaré, Henri (1913), Dernières pensées, Paris: Ernest Flammarion :n.p.. The quotation in the
article is from the English translation: (Poincaré, Henri; Bolduc, John W. (trans.) (1963),
Mathematics and science: last essays, New York: Dover Publications :n.p.)
Sri Kantha, S. Einstein and Lorentz. Nature, 13 July 1995; 376: 111. (Letter)
External links
Quotations related to Hendrik Lorentz at Wikiquote
Media related to Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at Wikimedia Commons
Scanned publications of H. A. Lorentz (http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/IL-publications/Lorentz.htm
l)
Scanned Ph.D. theses (http://www.lorentz.leidenuniv.nl/IL-publications/dissertations/lorentz.html)
of the students of Lorentz.
Hendrik Lorentz (https://www.nobelprize.org/laureate/2) on Nobelprize.org
Works by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (https://www.gutenberg.org/author/Lorentz,+H.+A.+(Hendrik+A
ntoon)) at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Hendrik Lorentz (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%
22Lorentz%2C%20Hendrik%20Antoon%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Lorentz%2C%20Hendrik
%20A%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Lorentz%2C%20H%2E%20A%2E%22%20OR%20su
bject%3A%22Hendrik%20Antoon%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hendrik%20A%2E
%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22H%2E%20A%2E%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20subje
ct%3A%22Lorentz%2C%20Hendrik%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Hendrik%20Lorentz%22%2
0OR%20creator%3A%22Hendrik%20Antoon%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Hendri
k%20A%2E%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22H%2E%20A%2E%20Lorentz%22%20O
R%20creator%3A%22H%2E%20Antoon%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Lorentz%2
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n%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Hendrik%20A%2E%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20title%3
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%20description%3A%22Hendrik%20Antoon%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Hen
drik%20A%2E%20Lorentz%22%20OR%20description%3A%22H%2E%20A%2E%20Lorentz%22
%20OR%20description%3A%22Lorentz%2C%20Hendrik%20Antoon%22%20OR%20description
%3A%22Lorentz%2C%20Hendrik%20A%2E%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Hendrik%20Lor
entz%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Lorentz%2C%20Hendrik%22%29%20OR%20%28%221
853-1928%22%20AND%20Lorentz%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at
Internet Archive
Works by Hendrik Lorentz (https://librivox.org/author/1789) at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Beenakker, Carlo, Lorentz and the Zuiderzee project (http://ilorentz.org/history/zuiderzee/zuiderze


e.html), Leiden, [The Netherlands]: Instituut Lorentz, University of Leiden
van Helden, Albert (1999), "Hendrik Antoon Lorentz 1853–1928", in van Berkel, Klaas; van
Helden, Albert; Palm, Lodewijk (eds.), A History of Science in The Netherlands: Survey, Themes
and Reference (http://www.historyofscience.nl/author.cfm?RecordId=5), Leiden, [The
Netherlands]: Brill, pp. 514–518, ISBN 978-90-04-10006-0
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., Hendrik Lorentz, MacTutor History of Mathematics
archive (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lorentz.html), retrieved 1 May 2008
Movie of Lorentz's funeral (https://web.archive.org/web/20051231104701/http://www.vpro.nl/progr
amma/zomergasten/afleveringen/22708246/items/23535592/)
Newspaper clippings about Hendrik Lorentz (http://purl.org/pressemappe20/folder/pe/011649) in
the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hendrik_Lorentz&oldid=1010657955"

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