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A Living Work of Art

The Life and Science of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

A J Kox author H F Schatz author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

Published:18th Feb '21

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A Living Work of Art cover

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was one of the greatest physicists and mathematicians the Netherlands has ever known. Einstein called him "a living work of art, a perfect personality". During his funeral in 1928, the entire Dutch nation mourned. The national telegraph service was suspended for three minutes and his passing was national and international front-page news. The cream of international science, an impressive list of dignitaries, including the Prince Consort, and thousands of ordinary people turned out to see Lorentz being carried to his last resting place. This biography describes the life of Lorentz, from his early childhood, as the son of a market gardener in the provincial town of Arnhem, to his death, as a towering figure in physics and in international scientific cooperation and as a trailblazer for Einstein's relativity theory. A number of chapters shed light on his unique place in science, the importance of his ideas, his international conciliatory and scientific activities after World War One, his close friendship with Albert Einstein, and his important role as Einstein's teacher and intellectual critic. By making use of recently discovered family correspondence, the authors were able to show that there lies a true human being behind Lorentz's façade of perfection. One chapter is devoted to Lorentz's wife Aletta, a woman in her own right, whose progressive feminist ideas were of considerable influence on those of her husband. Two separate chapters focus on his most important scientific achievements, in terms accessible to a general audience.

A commendable and highly readable biography of a great scientist. * Michael Eckert, Physics Today *
A biography of Lorentz is long overdue. Most physicists today are unaware of Lorentz's significance in establishing contemporary physics or that many of today's textbook accounts of electromagnetism derive from his work. This book will help achieve the historical goal of enabling readers of all types to learn about and appreciate Lorentz as well as the origins and significance of contemporary physics. * David C. Cassidy, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY *
Lorentz surely is one of the most important scientists ever to have lived, and yet, as far as I know, this will be the first book-size biography of him in English. The book is most interesting in its account of Lorentz's social role in science and politics, especially as a peace-promoter in the inter-war period. The portrait of Lorentz is well-balanced and does not fall into the traps of hagiography. In the concluding section, we see the greatness as well as a few weaknesses of the man. * Olivier Darrigol, CNRS *

ISBN: 9780198870500

Dimensions: 240mm x 160mm x 21mm

Weight: 654g

296 pages