Everything about Pieter Zeeman totally explained
Pieter Zeeman (
Zonnemaire,
May 25,
1865 –
Amsterdam,
October 9,
1943) was a
Dutch physicist who shared the 1902
Nobel Prize in
Physics with
Hendrik Lorentz for his discovery of the
Zeeman effect.
Childhood and youth
Pieter Zeeman was born in
Zonnemaire, a small town on the island of
Schouwen-Duiveland,
Netherlands to Catharinus Forandinus Zeeman, a minister of the
Dutch Reformed Church, and Willemina Worst.
He was early on already interested in physics. In 1883, the
Aurora borealis happened to be visible in the Netherlands.
Zeeman, then a student of the high school in
Zierikzee, made a drawing and description of the phenomenon and submitted that to
Nature, where it was published. The editor praised
"the careful observations of Professor Zeeman from his observatory in Zonnemaire", which should have been pleasing to the high school student.
After finishing high school in 1883 he went to
Delft for supplementary education in
classical languages, then a requirement for admission to University. He stayed at the home of Dr. J.W. Lely, co-principal of the
gymnasium and brother of
Cornelis Lely, who was responsible for the concept and realization of the
Zuiderzee Works. While in Delft, he first met
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who was to become his thesis advisor.
Education and early career
After Zeeman passed the qualification exams in 1885, he studied physics at the
University of Leiden under Kamerlingh Onnes and
Hendrik Lorentz. In 1890, already before finishing his thesis, he became Lorentz' assistant. This allowed him to participate in a research program on the
Kerr effect. In 1893, he submitted his doctor's thesis that was devoted to the Kerr effect, on the reflection of polarized light on a magnetized surface. After obtaining his doctorate, he went for half a year to
F. Kohlrausch' institute in
Strasbourg. In 1895, after returning from Strasbourg, Zeeman became
Privatdozent in mathematics and physics in
Leiden. The same year he married Johanna Elisabeth Lebret (1873–1962); they'd three daughters and one son. In 1896, three years after submitting his thesis on the Kerr effect, he made the discovery of what is now known as the
Zeeman effect. As an extension of his thesis research, he began investigating the effect of
magnetic fields on a
light source. He discovered that a
spectral line is split into several components in the presence of a
magnetic field. Lorentz first heard about Zeeman's observations on Saturday,
October 31, 1896 at the meeting of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in
Amsterdam, where these results were communicated by Kamerlingh Onnes. The next Monday, Lorentz called Zeeman in his office and presented him with an explanation of his observations, based on Lorentz' theory of
electromagnetic radiation.
The importance of Zeeman's discovery became soon apparent. It confirmed Lorentz' prediction about the polarization of light emitted in the presence of a magnetic field. Because of Zeeman's work, it appeared that the oscillating particles that according to Lorentz were the source of light emission were negatively charged, and were a thousandfold lighter than the hydrogen atom. This conclusion was reached well before
Thomson's discovery of the
electron. The Zeeman effect thus became an important tool for elucidating the structure of the atom.
Professor in Amsterdam
Because of his discovery, Zeeman was offered a position as
lecturer in
Amsterdam in 1897, and in 1900 followed his promotion to professor of physics at the
University of Amsterdam. In 1902, he received the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of the Zeeman effect, together with his former mentor Lorentz. Five years later, in 1908, he succeeded
Van der Waals as full professor and Director of the Physics Institute in Amsterdam.
In 1923, a new laboratory was built in Amsterdam, which in 1940 was renamed Zeeman Laboratory. This new facility allowed him to pursue refined investigation of the Zeeman effect. For the remainder of his career, he remained interested in research in Magneto-Optics. He also investigated the propagation of light in moving media. This subject became the focus of a renewed interest because of
special relativity, and enjoyed keen interest from Lorentz and
Einstein.
Later in his career he became interested in
Mass spectrometry.
Later years
In 1898, Zeeman was elected member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam, and he served as its secretary from 1912 to 1920. He won the
Henry Draper Medal in 1921, and several other awards and
Honorary degrees.
He became
Emeritus professor in 1935.
Zeeman died on October 9, 1943 in Amsterdam, and was interred in
Haarlem.
Awards and honours
Zeeman received the following awards for his contributions.
Zeeman crater on the
moon is named in his honor.
Publications
Further Information
Get more info on 'Pieter Zeeman'.
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