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Archive for History of Exact Sciences

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz’s struggle with quantum theory

Anne J. Kox

Published Jul 23, 2012• 36 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A historical overview is given of the contributions of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz in quantum theory. Although especially his early work is valuable, the main importance of Lorentz’s work lies in the conceptual clarifications he provided and in his critique of the foundations of quantum theory.
DOI
10.1007/s00407-012-0107-8

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Quantum theory as a scientific revolution profoundly influenced human thought about the universe and governed forces of nature. Perhaps the historical development of quantum mechanics mimics the history of human scientific struggles from their beginning. This book, which brought together an international community of invited authors, represents a rich account of foundation, scientific history of quantum mechanics, relativistic quantum mechanics and field theory, and different methods to solve the Schrodinger equation. We wish for this collected volume to become an important reference for students and researchers.
In this paper, we pick some less well-known contributions of great minds to the history of ideas from the proceedings of the Solvay Conferences. We hope to show there was nothing inevitable about the new physics winning out. In fact, we suggest modern-day physicists may usefully go back to some of the old ideas – most notably the idea that elementary particles do have some shape and size – and that they should, perhaps, try somewhat harder to explain intrinsic properties of these particles, such as angular momentum and their magnetic moment, in terms of classical physics. The contributions which we discuss are those of Ernest Rutherford, Joseph Larmor, Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and Louis de Broglie.
The history of the quantum theory has received rather uneven treatment from professional historians of science. There has been a great deal of emphasis on the early period from 1900 to 1926, during which time the classic formulations of the so-called old and new quantum theories were laid down. But there have been many important subsequent improvements in the underlying theory, its applications and interpretation. The present article attempts a more balanced perspective on the whole theory from the initial inception to its ongoing development. The subject is necessarily a technical and mathematical one, and no account, worthy of any pretensions to accuracy, can avoid reference to some technical matters. An attempt has been made to keep these to a minimum, but it is not entirely possible to eliminate them. This probably helps to explain why the more recent history has largely been dealt with by practising physicists, rather than by historians.