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 “a l i v i ng wor k of a rt ”
the l ife a n d science of
hen dr ik a n toon lor en tz
 “A Living Work of Art”
The Life and Science of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

A. J. Kox
H. F. Schatz
Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam

1
 1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© A. J. Kox and H. F. Schatz 2021
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
First Edition published in 2021
Impression: 1
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a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
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above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020952678
ISBN 978–0–19–887050–0
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198870500.001.0001
Printed and bound in the UK by
TJ Books Limited
Preface

This book is a revised and expanded edition of a Dutch-­language biography of

Lorentz by one of us (AJK) that appeared in 2019 (Kox 2019). Parts of the book
that deal with specifically Dutch situations or contexts were explained or extended
to make them more understandable for an international readership. Also, a new
chapter was added about Lorentz’s wife, whose activities and sharp observations
offer a more personal perspective on the life of the Lorentz family. In addition,
many editorial and stylistic changes were made, and some parts were completely
rewritten, in a truly joint effort to bring Lorentz to life as a man of flesh and blood,
in spite of the scarcity of personal material.
Writing the biography of a scientist is not easy under any circumstances. In the
case of Lorentz, the difficulties were particularly daunting, because virtually no
personal correspondence, diaries, or other personal material remain to shed light
on his personal life, his emotions, his motives, his triumphs, or his disappointments.
It is not known whether such materials ever even existed. What is known, though,
is that after Lorentz’s death his widow, on his explicit instructions, proceeded to
burn three sealed packages of letters “before anyone would succumb to the
temptation to open them,” as she wrote to Lorentz’s successor, Paul Ehrenfest.
What was inside the packages is anyone’s guess.
Like anyone writing a biography, the authors have had moments of doubt about
the ultimate success of their project. In the case of Lorentz the project was
especially difficult, because the essence of Lorentz’s personality continuously
seemed to evade us. The authors do not intend to go so far as Newton’s biographer,
Richard Westfall, who wrote in his masterful Never at Rest: “The more I have
studied him, the more Newton has receded from me.” Yet, we must admit that his
words have often been in our thoughts.
Now it is up to the reader to decide whether we have been successful in the task
we set out to achieve.
A. J. Kox
H. F. Schatz
Amsterdam and Torrazza
May 2020
Acknowledgments

Over the years, many people have been kind enough to provide moral or practical
support that was instrumental for the publication of this biography. To the editors
and staff at the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology,
in particular General Editor Diana Buchwald, we owe a debt of gratitude. The
staff at the Noord-­Hollands Archief in Haarlem, especially Godelieve Bolten, the
archivist in charge of scientific archives, have provided essential help and advice.
We also extend our heartfelt thanks to Jed Buchwald, Margriet van de Heijden,
Michel Janssen, Laura Kox, Jan Lepeltak, Ad Maas, Jonathan van der Meer, Jos
van der Meer, Abel Streefland, and Dalila Wallé for various forms of assistance
and support. Finally, we thank the four anonymous referees who carefully
reviewed this book for their useful and constructive comments.
Abbreviations

ASZ Archief Staatscommissie Zuiderzee, Archief Dienst Zuiderzeewerken, Nieuw Land

Erfgoedcentrum, Lelystad
CICI Commission internationale de coopération intellectuelle
CIR Conseil international de recherches
CT Collection J. Th. Thijsse, Archief Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der
Wetenschappen, NHA. (Documents concerning Thijsse’s work in the Zuiderzee
Commission.)
FAL Documents concerning the Zuiderzee Commission, Family archive of Cornelis
Lely, Nationaal Archief, Den Haag
FC Family Correspondence 1908–28 (NHA)
LA Archief H. A. Lorentz, NHA
NHA Noord-­Hollands Archief, Haarlem
PC Material from private collection of Lorentz heirs (NHA)
RB Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Leiden
UAI Union académique internationale
ZA Archief P. Zeeman, NHA
Aller seelische Wagemut liegt heute in den exakten Wissenschaften.
Nicht von Göthe, Hebbel, Hölderlin werden wir lernen,
sondern von Mach, Lorentz, Einstein, Minkowski,
von Couturat, Russell, Peano. Robert Musil, 1912.
(Gesammelte Werke, II, p. 1318.)
All intellectual daring nowadays lies in the exact sciences.
We will learn not from Göthe, Hebbel, Hölderlin, but from Mach,
Lorentz, Einstein, Minkowski, from Couturat, Russell,
Peano. Robert Musil, 1912. (Gesammelte Werke, II, p. 1318.)
Chapter 1
Childhood and student years

On the 13th of November 1852, thirty-­year-­old Gerrit Fredrik Lorentz married

his young bride Geertruida van Ginkel in Arnhem, a city roughly in the geo-
graphical middle of the Netherlands.1 Geertruida, reputedly a pretty and intelli-
gent woman, had been widowed two years earlier when she was only twenty-­four.
She was left with Hendrik Jan Jacob, or Jan, her two-­year-­old son from her mar-
riage to Jan Jacob Janssen. Gerrit Lorentz, a prosperous commercial gardener,
owned a large market garden on Musschenberg, just outside Arnhem. His grand-
father, Friedrich Gottlob Lorentz, had started a commercial garden on Steenstraat,
or Velpersteenstraat, the main road from Arnhem to Zutphen. This gardening
business, with its reputation for high-­quality cauliflower, was subsequently passed
on to his son Tobias, Gerrit’s father.
Grandfather Friedrich originated from the German town of Bautzen, sixty kilo-
meters north of Dresden, and had arrived in Arnhem in the second half of the
eighteenth century. Possibly he served as a soldier in the Prussian army that was
called in by Stadtholder2 Willem V in 1787 to suppress a patriotic uprising in the
Netherlands. The patriots in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands rose
up against the absolutist administration of the Stadtholder and demanded admin-
istrative reforms for its citizens. In 1786 and 1878 fighting broke out between the
patriots and the supporters of the Stadtholder. With the help of the Prussians,
Willem V managed to put an end to the fighting in October of 1887.
In the years around 1850, Arnhem, which had obtained city rights as early as
1233, was rapidly changing from a relatively sleepy provincial town to a flourish-
ing mid-­size city. This period of growth had started twenty years earlier, after the

1
Unless specified otherwise, all particulars about Lorentz’s childhood in this chapter were drawn
from Haas-­Lorentz 1957 (a biographical article by Lorentz’s eldest daughter, Geertruida Luberta
[mostly denoted as “Berta”]), biographical notes by his wife, Aletta Lorentz-­Kaiser (RB), reminis-
cences by Lorentz’s friend and colleague Herman Haga (PC), and documentation that was used for
the booklet De Arnhemse jaren van Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, edited by Jos Diender, Tineke Seebach,
and Wout van Ast and published by Bezoekerscentrum Sonsbeek, Arnhem.
2
In the Low Countries, a Stadtholder (place holder) was appointed to represent a feudal lord. From
the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, in the early Dutch Republic, the role had become that of a
hereditary head of state. Willem V, the last Stadtholder of the Republic, fled to England when the
French revolutionary forces established the Batavian Republic in 1795. In 1815, after the defeat of the
French army, his son was crowned King Willem I of the United Netherlands.

“A Living Work of Art”: The Life and Science of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz. A. J. Kox and H. F. Schatz, Oxford University Press (2021).
© A. J. Kox and H. F. Schatz. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198870500.003.0002
 Childhood and student years 5

city’s classic fortifications had been demolished. City walls were torn down, city
gates were removed, and moats were filled in. Townhouses and mansions for the
newly wealthy were constructed along widened canals and city parks. A railroad to
connect the city with the western part of the country was built in 1845, and a few
years later a concert hall, Musis Sacrum, was the first cultural venue to be con-
structed. This development continued in the following decades. New and better
opportunities for secondary education opened up, a public library was estab-
lished, and more cultural opportunities arose after a theater opened its doors. As
a result, Arnhem became more cosmopolitan, with a lively arts scene, and increas-
ingly attractive as a city to settle and do business. Industry and trade also flour-
ished, although the number of industrial enterprises remained relatively small.
The number of inhabitants grew quickly: from 20,000 in 1850 to 50,000 by the
end of the century.3
Less than a year after their wedding, on July 18, 1853, a son was born to the
Lorentz couple. He was named Hendrik Antoon but went by the name of “Hentje.”
Five years later they had another son, Alexander Cornelis. Hendrik was rather short
for his age4 and did not start to talk until late, but that was hardly a sign of his in­fer­
ior intelligence. On the contrary, he did quite well in school and was so popular in
class that at one point his fellow students gave him a beautiful pencil—a gift that was
spoiled somewhat for Hendrik when his classmates wanted him to confirm over and
over how much he loved it. He clearly liked reading: He was so pleased with a book
his parents gave him that he wrote his initials H.A.L. on every page.
An early memory that stayed with him throughout his life shows that he was a
curious child. Young Hendrik was fascinated by the comet of 1860 which, by the
end of June, was visible to the naked eye in the night sky over the Netherlands.5 Of
course, one needed to have an unobstructed view to see the comet, as it appeared
low on the northern horizon, but living on the outskirts of Arnhem he must have
had plenty of opportunity to see it.
Though it does not appear in any of the other available sources on Lorentz, the
following story was recounted by his student Adriaan Fokker, to attest that Lorentz
did not like to get into a fight but that he was not a pushover either, even at a
young age. He calls Lorentz “already in his boyhood years a peace-­loving, but at
the same time logically thinking person.”6 The story has it that one day, when
Hendrik was still a young boy, he had to go and fetch a kettle of hot water at a
3
See Arnhem 1933 for more about the history of Arnhem.
4
His daughter Berta suggests that at the time when he went to university, Lorentz was still of short
stature, because she referred to him as a “dark little person” (Haas-­Lorentz 1957, 24). Today it is dif-
ficult to determine how tall Lorentz really was. The passport that has been preserved unfortunately
does not state his exact height. Some indication may be gleaned from a photograph showing Einstein
and Lorentz standing right next to each other. Einstein was over 1.70 meters (5 ft., 7 in.) tall and in
the picture, Lorentz is clearly quite a bit taller. It can be concluded that Lorentz was not particularly
short, and certainly not for those days, considering that around 1900 the average height for men was
1.69 meters (5 ft., 6.5 in.).
5
Probably the non-­periodical comet C/1860 M1.
6
See Fokker 1946. In terms of approach and tone, this article is completely in line with the title of
the book in which it appeared: Nederlandsche Helden der Wetenschap (Dutch Heroes of Science).
6 Childhood and student years

“water and fire woman’s shop,” since it was not always so easy in those days to
heat up water at home. On his way home, he was accosted by an alley-­kid looking
for a fight. He managed to avoid the fight by pointing out to his attacker that
­hot-­water burns are not only very painful but also leave nasty scars. Apparently,
they ended up parting company as good friends.
In 1861, Hendrik’s life changed course fundamentally. On December 1 his
mother passed away, only thirty-­five years old. A few weeks earlier, his little
brother Alexander had also died, at the tender age of three-­and-­a-­half. These
events, in such a short time-­span, must have been traumatic for eight-­year-­old
Hendrik and must have stayed with him for the rest of his life. His daughter Berta
recounts in her reminiscences that he used to visit his mother’s grave every time
he went to Arnhem, until the cemetery eventually closed.
At the time the family lived at Steenstraat, where Gerrit had inherited some
property and a few simple little houses, the “Lorentz houses.” As he had a crip-
pled hand and foot, the garden work became increasingly difficult for him, so a
small grocery store was set up in one of the houses. This was the reason why
Gerrit’s occupation on Geertruida’s death certificate was listed as “shopkeeper.”
Having been left with two young children, Gerrit did not wait long to look for a
new wife: Six months later he married the forty-­two-­year-­old widow Lubberta
Hupkes, so the children would have a stepmother—for Hendrik’s stepbrother Jan,
already his second. Lubberta, who had no children of her own, was apparently a
good mother to the two boys. At least, Hendrik was so fond of her that he named
the elder of his two daughters after her.
In the years that followed Gerrit had to close down the grocery store for lack of
customers. He sold the nearby property and had the “Lorentz houses” torn down
to replace them with three large, modern houses. The Lorentz family itself moved
to the ground floor of the middle house, while the second floor and the houses on
either side were rented out.

Primary school
When his mother died in 1861 Hendrik was still in primary school, in Master
Swaters’ class, having started school two years earlier at the age of six. After his
first year in school, in 1860, the first photograph of young Hendrik was taken at
the country fair he was visiting with his mother. A serious young boy is looking
into the lens, hair neatly combed, in a dapper little suit. As a young child he had
broken his nose, falling off a hand cart while playing. Although his nose had
become somewhat misshapen as a result, this does not really show in the picture.
No particular meaning should be attached to his serious look. In those days sitting
for a portrait photograph was something quite special and a serious business. The
ubiquitous smile of present-­day photos did not become fashionable until much
later, in the second half of the twentieth century.
 Primary school 7

After a few years with Master Swaters, Hendrik transferred to the French
School of Master Geurt Kornelis Timmer. This school, consisting of six grades for
extended primary education, offered classes in the morning and in the afternoon
and—if students wished—also in the evening. The school was expensive: tuition
amounted to around forty guilders per year. As the average pay of a blue-­collar
worker was no more than a few hundred guilders per year in those days, not
every­one could afford to send their children to such an expensive school. The fact
that Hendrik’s father was able to pay this kind of tuition was clear proof of his
relative prosperity.
Apart from Master Timmer, the school had two other teachers who taught for-
eign languages, mathematics, physics, draftsmanship, and agriculture. The school
provided a kind of Dalton education, aimed at stimulating a student’s individual
development. In Hendrik’s case this education was more than successful. When he
was nine or ten years old, he went out and bought a logarithm table, paid for with
his own pocket money, and taught himself how to use it. Hendrik himself remem-
bered later that “in the evening hours everybody worked on arithmetic as much as
they pleased. In this way, we were able to learn quite a bit of lower mathematics.”7
Master Timmer was the one who introduced his pupils to the field of physics.
He was an enthusiastic teacher and an active member—later even chairman—of
the Arnhem Natuurkundig Genootschap onder de Zinspreuk tot Nut en Genoegen
(Physics Society under the Motto for Benefit and Pleasure). The society’s mem-
bers—who changed its name to Natuurkundig Genootschap Wessel Knoops (Physics
Society Wessel Knoops) in 1879 to honor its founder—gave lectures, studied sci-
entific literature together, and, by the end of the nineteenth century, even had their
own building.8 It was founded in 1824 by Wessel Knoops, who was a pharmacist
in Arnhem, and in the first years of the society its members held their meetings in
his pharmacy. The Society can be viewed as a typical product of the Enlightenment
and its culture of scientific societies. Especially in the latter decades of the eight-
eenth century, many such societies were established to encourage the spread of
ideas generated by natural science.
Apart from being an inspiring teacher in the classroom, Timmer also authored
popular science textbooks, like his Handleiding tot Algemeene Kennis van den
Aardbol. Een Volksleesboek (Textbook for General Knowledge of the Earth: A Popular
Reader) published in 1840 by the Maatschappij tot Nut van ’t Algemeen (Society for
Public Welfare). In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, this very influential
society—still in existence today—aimed to promote the well-­being of the people
through higher levels of cultivation and civilization and specifically through better
education. In connection with Lorentz’s own activities, its role will be further dis-
cussed later on. Lorentz always spoke of Timmer with great warmth and appre-
ciation, even many years later. Not only was he a gifted and inspiring teacher, he

7
“in de avonduren ieder rekende naar zijn lust meebracht. Zoo konden wij heel wat van de lagere
wiskunde leren.” Physica 6 (1926): 24.
8
See Ven 1998 for the history of the Society.
8 Childhood and student years

was also able to create an especially attractive classroom atmosphere by doing

small experiments with the students.
Lorentz himself also became a member of the Physics Society Wessel Knoops
and in 1876 and 1880 he gave lectures there about “Magnets” and “The Essence
of Electricity” respectively. Obviously, at the Society’s 100th anniversary, in 1924,
Lorentz was the guest of honor. Before addressing the members in a lecture with
demonstrations about “old and new physics” he made a point of praising the
­science education he had received from Master Timmer.9

Secondary school
With the support and encouragement of Master Timmer, in December 1866
Lorentz took the entrance examination for the third grade of the Arnhem Hoogere
Burgerschool (HBS) that had opened a few months earlier. This new type of sec-
ondary education was introduced by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, one of the most
influential Dutch politicians of the nineteenth century. Influenced by the 1848
liberal uprisings throughout Europe, Thorbecke was instrumental in revising the
Dutch constitution and established many features of Dutch parliamentary democ-
racy that remain in place to this day.
As Prime Minister, he presided over the passage of a raft of new laws and
reforms, including election reform, tax reform, and healthcare legislation. In his
1862 Secondary Education Act, Thorbecke provided for a new type of secondary
school, geared toward educating students for managerial positions in trade and
industry. Contrary to the already existing Gymnasium, a type of grammar school
where students were instructed in the classics as well as the sciences, it was inten-
tionally not designed to prepare students for university.
Master Timmer apparently made every effort to prepare his students as best he
could for the very important entrance examination to their new school. He even
used to get up very early every morning to improve his own English before the
start of the school day, in order to be able to convey his newly acquired knowledge
to his pupils later in the day. During the entrance examination Hendrik met
Herman Haga, the son of a local minister, who was a year older. They would
remain friends until Lorentz’s death.
The HBS in Arnhem was a municipal school rather than a school run by the
state, like many HBS schools elsewhere in the country. It started the school year
in 1866 with 77 students, divided across four grades.10 The fourth grade had just
two students and the fifth, final grade would only come later, once the ­fourth-­grade
students had reached that level. Tuition was sixty guilders per year, quite

See Arnhemsche Courant, March 14, 1924.

9

Information about the HBS in Arnhem is taken from Gedenkboek 1966 and from archival material
10

in the Gelders Archief in Arnhem.

 Secondary school 9

a ­substantial fee in comparison to the salaries of the teachers, who earned between
1,200 and 1,800 guilders per year.
At the HBS Hendrik van de Stadt, who taught physics, was another teacher
who was an important influence on young Lorentz’s intellectual development. In
his anniversary lecture at the Physics Society Wessel Knoops, Lorentz mentioned
him in one breath with Master Timmer. Much later, at the celebration of his
golden doctorate, he again emphasized Van de Stadt’s important role in his
­academic development and in his choice to study physics. In his speech on that
occasion he said:

Whether physics or mathematics was the most beautiful science, that was a question
about which I was in doubt at the time, but which was decided in favor of physics
when, once admitted to the hoogere burgerschool, we enjoyed the lively teaching of van
de Stadt. Van de Stadt, who had recently received his doctorate in Leiden, transplanted
in us the enthusiasm which, in himself, had been aroused in the first place by Kaiser.11

Despite the high esteem in which he held Van de Stadt, Lorentz still attached more
value to Timmer’s teaching, at least according to his university friend Gerrit Jan
Michaelis.12 Like Timmer, Van de Stadt did not limit himself to teaching. He was
also the author of a well-­known physics textbook, Beknopt Leerboek der Natuurkunde
(Concise Textbook of Physics), first published in 1879 and reprinted many times since.
Another teacher who taught Lorentz a great deal, both in and outside the class-
room, was Jacob Maarten van Bemmelen, the school’s director, who taught chem-
istry and later became a professor in Leiden. Under his guidance, Lorentz carried
out his first science experiments:

I had to trot around a concert hall with greater or lesser speed, holding up a wind
gauge tied to a long wooden slat, and then, as much as my knowledge of mathematics
allowed at the time, I had to express in a formula the relationship between the indica-
tions on the instrument and the speed at which I had been running.13

Experiments were not only performed in a school context. In his speech on the
occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his doctorate, Lorentz remembered the

11
“Of nu natuurkunde dan wel wiskunde het mooiste vak was, dat was een vraag waaromtrent ik
toen twijfelde, maar die ten gunste der natuurkunde beslist werd toen wij, op de hoogere burgerschool
gekomen, het levendige onderwijs van Van de Stadt genoten. Van de Stadt, pas te Leiden gepro-
moveerd, plantte op ons de geestdrift over, die bij hem zelf, in de eerste plaats wel door Kaiser, gewekt
was.” See Physica 6 (1926): 21–29 for the speech. Frederik Kaiser was Professor of Astronomy in
Leiden and doctoral dissertation advisor to Van de Stadt.
12
See Michaelis to Aletta Lorentz-­Kaiser, May 1, 1928 (LA 725). Michaelis was a slightly older
peer of Lorentz, with whom he liked to played chess. After his doctorate in 1872, Michaelis took a
position as a teacher of mathematics and mechanics at the Arnhem HBS in 1873.
13
“Ik moest met een windmeter die aan een lange omhoog gehouden lat was gebonden, met grooter
of kleiner snelheid in een concertzaal ronddraven, en vervolgens, zoo goed en zoo kwaad als mijn toen­
malige wiskunde het toeliet, het verband tusschen de aanwijzingen van het instrument en de snelheid
waarmee ik geloopen had, in een formule uitdrukken.” Physica 6 (1926): 25.
10 Childhood and student years

lively discussions with Haga on walks in the woods around Arnhem, “the often
impossible experiments we devised and how at some point, rather to our satisfac-
tion, we decided what the essence of electricity was supposed to be.”14 According
to Haga, walking was actually the only “sport” that Lorentz practiced with enthu-
siasm: “fencing, ice-­skating, swimming, or gymnastics” were clearly not Lorentz’s
favorite pastimes. Riding a bicycle was a skill Lorentz did not master until 1890,
when it became more commonplace to do so, but he later spent many a day on
bicycle trips with his own children.15
Young Lorentz’s school performance at the HBS was legendary, and justifiably
so. On all his report cards he scored a five—the highest grade at the time—for
almost all subjects, even theology, a subject that was taught in the final (fifth) year.
His all-­round talent was especially remarkable: neither the exact sciences nor the
modern languages gave him any trouble at all. He also turned out to have an
exceptionally good memory, something that would stand him in good stead
throughout his life. He effortlessly gave long lectures and speeches by heart, with-
out using notes. A half hour of preparation time was enough for him.16 In later life
he also made good use of his exceptional mastery of English, French, and German
at the many international scientific meetings he attended and in his prolific con-
tacts with ­foreign colleagues.
In order to boost his mastery of French, Hendrik often attended Sunday ser-
vices in the Walloon Church, and to improve his English he read English authors
like Charles Dickens.17 This choice of reading gave cause for criticism from his
English teacher, who thought that his English usage in compositions resembled
the language of Dickens too much. Apparently, Lorentz’s good memory was
­getting in the way here.
As far as academic performance and intellect were concerned, Lorentz was far
and away better than average. He was awarded prizes for both mathematics and
literary subjects when he was moved up from grade three to four and from grade
four to five. According to an anecdote, Van de Stadt had recruited his pupils to put
together a booklet of answers to the problems in one of his textbooks. In as little
as two weeks Lorentz had solved all the problems, including the material that had
not yet been discussed in class.
In Hendrik’s final school year, 1868–1869, there were two other students in his
class: his friend Haga and W. H. de Jong.18 There is a well-­known photo of the

14
“de veelal onmogelijke proeven die wij beraamden en hoe wij eens, nog al tot onze tevredenheid
uitmaakten wat de electriciteit eigenlijk wel zou zijn.” Ibid.
15
See, for example, Lorentz to Woldemar Voigt, July 20, 1899, in which he writes that he must end
the letter because he must go bicycling with his children. (Kox 2008, 62). At the time the family was
spending the summer in a rented cottage in the seashore village of Noordwijkerhout, not far from
Leiden.
16
According to daughter Berta, Hendrik’s grandfather Lorentz also boasted a very good memory. It
enabled him to write down the Sunday sermons verbatim, and recycling of any sermon was something
he noticed immediately, even many years later. (Haas-­Lorentz 1957, 21).
17
According to Haga, he had read Dickens’s A Child’s History of England.
18
The name is spelled as in the HBS archive. Haas-­Lorentz 1957 uses the spelling De Jongh.
 Secondary school 11

three boys, taken by Van de Stadt who was an avid amateur photographer. They
pose by a ground-­floor window in the janitor’s house. The janitor had quickly
managed to insert a rifle in the picture, leaning it close to the boys. Having a rifle
in the picture at all was probably connected with the fact that military drills and
the “treatment of the rifle” had been introduced by Director Van Bemmelen as
part of the HBS curriculum. According to Haga, the three boys were discussing
their “military readiness” when they were photographed. Haga also mentions a
previous photo where Lorentz’s head was not in focus—because it had absorbed
all the ultraviolet rays, according to his classmates.
The three classmates were good friends and during long walks in the surround-
ings of Arnhem they had discussions about all sorts of things and speculated
about what the future would hold for each of them. For Lorentz they envisaged a
professorship in the German city of Jena—Jena because their German teacher had
suggested that they visit the city.
Hendrik’s final examination also became legendary. He was the number one
student in the entire province of Gelderland and, so the story goes, his exam was
consulted whenever the correctors were not quite sure about the correctness of a
solution given by another student.19 In a farewell speech to the final year’s class,
director Van Bemmelen praised Lorentz’s exceptional talents and especially
impressed upon him, “considering his well-­known humility and goodness, to take
care that others would not abuse his knowledge, that he himself would not lose
himself in it, but that he would bring science a step forward.”20
Yet, in spite of his brilliant final examination, Lorentz was not allowed to go to
university immediately. Since the HBS was not designed to prepare students for
university, the school’s final diploma did not grant automatic access to any degree
course: it still required a Gymnasium diploma. In practice, this meant that those
who had already graduated from the HBS still needed to take an additional state
examination in Greek and Latin to be allowed to enter university. Together with
Haga, Hendrik spent the following year studying the classics under the guidance
of T. T. Kroon, the deputy director of the Arnhem Gymnasium. In his recollec-
tions, Haga describes how for Latin they had focused primarily on the work of the
Roman historian Livy, because in the preceding years the candidates for the state
examination had had to translate texts by this author. Unfortunately, no such luck
in 1870. On the program this time was Ovid, a poet with a completely different
vocabulary. Haga failed the exam miserably, but Hendrik powered through. The
words that he did not know from Livy were not a problem, he said, “as one could
more or less guess those.”21

19
See J. F. van Bemmelen (son of Jacob Maarten) to Aletta, May 13, 1928 (LA 725).
20
“bij zijn bekenden nederigheid en goedheid te zorgen, dat anderen geen misbruik maken van zijn
kennis, hijzelf daar niet in opga, maar de wetenschap ene schrede voorwaarts brenge.” Quoted in
Gedenkboek 1966, 39.
21
“die kon men wel zoowat raden.”
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 *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VAILAN
OR ANNULAR THEORY: A SYNOPSIS OF PROF. I. N. VAIL'S
ARGUMENT IN SUPPORT OF THE CLAIM THAT THIS EARTH
ONCE POSSESSED A SATURN-LIKE SYSTEM OF RINGS ***

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