Lorentz’s electron theory, though eventually superseded in detail, was pivotal. By recognizing the right answers and posing the right questions, he readied the path to relativity, quantum theory and the physics of today. Near the end of his own life, Albert Einstein penned Lorentz a memorable tribute: “For me personally he meant more than all the others I have met on my life’s journey.”

This article was published in print as "Happy Birthday, Electron."

This article was originally published with the title Happy Birthday, Electron.

4 Comments

1. 1. jtdwyer 07:48 AM 5/21/12

   Very nice article, although I felt left hanging with the remarks:
   "...successfully explained the mass of protons, neutrons and other strongly interacting particles using a closely related idea. The inertia of those particles arises from back-reaction of the gluon fields of electromagnetism’s big brother, quantum chromodynamics. Although the Higgs particle is sometimes credited with giving matter mass, its contribution to the mass of ordinary matter is actually quite small. Lorentz’s beautiful idea, in modern form, accounts for most of it."
   
   I'm just an ignorant lay person, but I would have guessed that the nucleons' inertia was physically more closely related to the strong force... A little more info might have helped a lot!

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2. 2. kenkoskinen 10:51 PM 5/25/12

   I have to agree with jtdwyer in his comment about being left hanging. Back reaction reads like inertia or resistance of a subatomic particle in its environment. However on the nucleon level the strong force is attractive and tends to keep them in company. Where they and other particles get their primary mass is still a mystery but the so-called Higgs field is the favored theoretical construct.(Although I do not believe it but who cares what I believe or disbelieve?)
   
   However the electron and its dynamics is a superb construct and it has given us perhaps more practical spin offs than any other subatomic particle. Look at chemistry and "electron"-ics just for starters! Need I say more.

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3. 3. dadster 04:55 AM 5/26/12

   
   Happy Birthday, Electron
   
   IT's UNBELIEVABLE THAT MY FATHER , WHO HAD A DEGREE IN PHYSICS ( from the Presidency College , Madras ,an ivy league college in India in those days and to some extend even now ), hardly learnt in 1905, much about electron theory except about electrical equipments such as dynamo , motor etc used in motor vehicles and , a little about power generation and distribution .Newon and Liebnitz had no idea of what an electron was ! Electrons are not even double my age ! Unbelievable how much it has achieved in such a short while. Overwhelming ! Literally all consuming,that humans now believe that the whole universe is made up of electromagnetic energies in it's infinite variety,not only all matter but even space-time distortions and "Life" itself ! Perhaps, it is so because that's the only energy humans and their instruments can "sense" and measure .Interesting, very interesting !
   

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4. 4. Plain-2009 11:40 PM 5/27/12

   If we are in empty space away from any gravitational field (if that is possible) matter has inertia. We need to apply energy to accelerate or to change the speed of that piece of material. And in a gravitational field is the same.
   What is that that we call matter? I think it should be something like concentrated energy.
   So I think neutrons, protons, and electrons are concentrated energy.
   I think that neutrons, protons, and electrons are made up of subatomic particles.
   What combinations of subatomic particles produce a proton, or a neutron, or an electron? I do not know. But I guess it is well known at this stage of understanding.
   What does it mean that sub-atomic particles like the Higgs particle (that very probably will be discovered soon) give matter mass?
   Do not all sub-atomic particles have mass?
   What does it mean that inertia of protons come from back-reaction of the gluon fields of quantum chromodynamics?
   Is it possible to answer these questions easily?
   What books should we read to begin understanding these matters? What areas of mathematics should we have a good grasp of?
   

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