Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
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." He received many other honours and distinctions, including a term as chairman of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, the forerunner of UNESCO, between 1925 and 1928.
1928Feb, 4
Hendrik Lorentz
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Events on 1928
- 12Mar
St. Francis Dam
In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kills 431 people. - 12Apr
Junkers W 33
The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west. - 4Jun
Zhang Zuolin
The President of the Republic of China, Zhang Zuolin, is assassinated by Japanese agents. - 18Jun
Amelia Earhart
Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic). - 2Oct
Josemaría Escrivá
The "Prelature of the Holy Cross and the Work of God", commonly known as Opus Dei, is founded by Josemaría Escrivá.