The Theory of Electrons: and Its Applications to the Phenomena of Light and Radiant Heat

by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

Based on a famous course of lectures delivered at Columbia University by Nobel laureate H. A. Lorentz, this 1915 work remains remarkably modern. Its outstanding discussion of general principles and experimental fasts keep it vital, and 109 pages of notes offer detailed examinations of the mathematics involved.
Beginning with Maxwell's electromagnetic equations, the author discusses the emission and absorption of electromagnetic radiation, the theory of the Zeeman effect, the propagation of electromagnetic waves in bodies composed of molecules, and optical phenomena in moving bodies. Additional topics include Huygens' principle, Stokes's theory of aberration, the velocity of light in a moving medium, Fresnel's coefficient, Michelson's experiment, moving electrostatic systems, molecular motion, general electromagnetic equations, and Einstein's finding about the principle of relativity.

Genres: Science

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2001

About the author

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. Lorentz also derived the transformation equations, which Albert Einstein interpreted as describing the true nature of space and time.