The work of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz went far in explaining and elaborating on the electromagnetic theory first proposed by James Clerk Maxwell. Not only did Lorentz explain the Zeeman effect and name the electron, but he also advanced a theory about electromagnetic phenomena that would reach its full flower in Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was born in Arnhem, The Netherlands, on July 18, 1853. He was the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz, a nursery owner, and Geertruida van Ginkel. His mother died when he was four, and his father remarried when he was nine.

Young Hendrik was a bright child, interested in physical science and mathematics from an early age. He mastered the logarithm tables when he was just nine. He also had a tremendous aptitude for languages, and later read and wrote widely in French, English and German as well as his native Dutch. In...