Hendrik Lorentz

• published: 05 Jan 2015
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Please give us a THUMBS UP if you like our videos!!! Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Lorentz Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland (The Netherlands), the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822--1893), a well-off nurseryman, and Geertruida van Ginkel (1826--1861). In 1862, after his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes. Despite being raised as a Protestant, he was a freethinker in religious matters.[B 1] From 1866 to 1869 he attended the "Hogere Burger School" in Arnhem, a new type of public high school recently established by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke. His results in school were exemplary, not only did he excel in the exact sciences, but also in English, French, and German. In 1870 he passed the exams in classical languages which were then required for admission to University. Lorentz studied physics and mathematics at the Leiden University, where he was strongly influenced by the teaching of astronomy professor Frederik Kaiser; it was his influence that led him to 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. In 1881 Hendrik married Aletta Catharina Kaiser, niece of Frederik Kaiser. She was the daughter of Johann Wilhelm Kaiser, director of the Amsterdam's Engraving School and professor of Fine Arts, and designer of the first Dutch postage stamps (1852). Later Kaiser was the Director of the National Gallery of Amsterdam. Hendrik and Aletta's eldest daughter Geertruida Luberta Lorentz was to become a physicist as well.