"Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (Arnhem, 18 juli 1853 – Haarlem, 4 februari 1928) was een van Nederlands grootste natuurkundigen en winnaar van de Nobelprijs voor Natuurkunde 1902.
Hij ontving de Nobelprijs samen met Pieter Zeeman voor hun onderzoek naar de invloed van magnetisme op spectraallijnen: het zeemaneffect. Lorentz deed vooral theoretisch onderzoek naar de elektromagnetische eigenschappen van materie: zijn elektronentheorie. Hij kwam tot de veronderstelling dat de afmeting van voorwerpen beïnvloed wordt door hun snelheid (de lorentzcontractie) evenals hun massa. Ook nam hij aan dat de lichtsnelheid de hoogst mogelijke snelheid is. Daarmee legde hij de basis voor de speciale relativiteitstheorie van Albert Einstein. Lorentz was de nestor van de natuurkundigen in zijn tijd: Einstein keek tegen hem op. De lorentzkracht op een stroomvoerende draad of geleider in een magneetveld is naar hem vernoemd, evenals onder meer de lorentztransformatie uit de speciale relativiteitstheorie, de Lorentz-Lorenz-vergelijking voor de brekingsindex en de lorentzverdeling uit de statistiek.
Vanaf 1900 werd Lorentz internationaal bekend in de wetenschappelijke wereld. In 1902 won hij met Pieter Zeeman de Nobelprijs voor Natuurkunde voor onderzoek naar de invloed van magnetisme op de kleuren van het licht van een natriumvlam (zeemaneffect, magnetische splitsing van spectraallijnen). In 1906 gaf hij gastcolleges aan de Columbia University te New York, die in druk bekend werden als The theory of electrons and its applications to the problems of light and radiant heat (De elektronentheorie en haar toepassingen op de vraagstukken van licht en stralende warmte). Later, in de jaren 1920, deed hij op drie tournees diverse Amerikaanse universiteiten aan als gastdocent. Vanaf 1910 was hij organisator en voorzitter van baanbrekende Solvayconferenties over onder meer vroege kwantummechanica met Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford en vele anderen. In 1923 aanvaardde hij de benoeming door de Volkenbond tot secretaris van de Commission internationale de coopération intellectuelle (CICI), onder voorzitterschap van de Franse filosoof Henri Bergson. In 1925 werd Lorentz voorzitter. Hij spande zich in om de samenwerking tussen onderzoekers uit de landen die elkaar na de Eerste Wereldoorlog boycotten te herstellen. In Nederland werkte Lorentz in 1918 mee aan de oprichting van de Wetenschappelijke Commissie van advies en onderzoek in het belang van volkswelvaart en weerbaarheid, een voorloper van de Nederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek (TNO)"
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Eng
"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. He also derived the Lorentz transformation underpinning Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, as well as the Lorentz force, which describes the combined electric and magnetic forces acting on a charged particle in an electromagnetic field.
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 other honours and distinctions, including a term as chairman of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation,[3] the forerunner of UNESCO, between 1925 and 1928."
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Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (Arnhem, July 18, 1853 – Haarlem, February 4, 1928) was one of the greatest Dutch physicists and winner of the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics.
He received the Nobel Prize together with Pieter Zeeman for their research into the influence of magnetism on spectral lines: the Zeeman effect. Lorentz mainly conducted theoretical research into the electromagnetic properties of matter: his electron theory. He came to the conclusion that the size of objects is influenced by their speed (the Lorentz contraction) as well as their mass. He also assumed that the speed of light is the fastest possible speed. In doing so, he laid the foundation for Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. Lorentz was the doyen of physicists in his day: Einstein looked up to him. The Lorentz force on a current-carrying wire or conductor in a magnetic field is named after him, as are the Lorentz transformation from special relativity, the Lorentz-Lorenz equation for the refractive index and the Lorentz distribution from statistics.
From 1900 Lorentz became internationally known in the scientific world. In 1902 he and Pieter Zeeman won the Nobel Prize in Physics for research into the influence of magnetism on the colors of the light of a sodium flame (zeeman effect, magnetic splitting of spectral lines). In 1906 he gave guest lectures at Columbia University in New York, which became known in print as The theory of electrons and its applications to the problems of light and radiant heat. Later, in the 1920s, he made three tours of various American universities as a guest lecturer. From 1910 he hosted and chaired groundbreaking Solvay conferences on, among others, early quantum mechanics with Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford and many others. In 1923 he accepted the appointment by the League of Nations as secretary of the Commission Internationale de Coopération Intellectuelle (CICI), chaired by the French philosopher Henri Bergson. Lorentz became chairman in 1925. He made an effort to restore cooperation between researchers from the countries that boycotted each other after the First World War. In the Netherlands, Lorentz contributed in 1918 to the establishment of the Scientific Committee of Advice and Research in the Interest of Public Prosperity and Resilience, a predecessor of the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
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About the monument:
"A man in a long coat stands on a high pedestal. A wall stretches out to his left and right. Full of names and six figures in relief. With a frown, he looks down at the park and the city that lie at his feet.
The man is Hendrik Lorentz. Arnhemmer by birth. Died exactly ninety years ago. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1902. Nestor and friend of Einstein. So great was he and so important in the world of physics in his day that this monument was erected to him in 1931. Made by one of the most important Dutch artists of the time, L.O. Wenckebach.
The names are of a later date. Added in 2008 during the Sonsbeek sculpture exhibition by artist Hans van Houwelingen. Names of physicists of the twentieth century. All indebted to each other. As an 'Update' of the work. Thus, the monument to one man became a monument to physics in the twentieth century."
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