On this day 172 years ago, on July 18, 1853 (June 13, 1853 in the lunar calendar), the Dutch theoretical physicist Lorenz was born. On July 18, 1853, Lorenz was born in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Studied at Leiden University and received his doctorate in 1875. In 1877 he became a professor of theoretical physics in Leiden at the age of just 24. Lorenz had a wide range of interests in physics and mathematics. His early work was drawn from the writings of Hermann von Helmholtz and began with his doctoral dissertation. Lorenz put together Maxwell's theory, making it possible for the first time that various effects, including the reflection and refraction (bending) of light, could be fully explained. Lorenz published a series of papers between 1892 and 1904, the central idea of which was to propose the "theory of electrons". He proposed that the atoms and molecules of matter contained small rigid bodies, each of which carried a positive or negative charge. In 18d he regarded these charged particles as "electrons". Through the effects of these electrons, many phenomena in science were explained. Lorenz believed that matter and the carrier medium called the "ether" were different entities, and that the interaction between them was mediated by electrons. He believed that the interaction of light waves with matter came from the presence of electrons in matter. If these charged particles vibrated, they would produce light waves predicted by Maxwell's equations. In 1895 Lorenz described the force on charged particles of matter in electromagnetic fields, now known as the Lorenz force. In 1900 he identified the negatively charged particles that had been found to form cathode rays as the negative electrons in his theory. Lorenz shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Peter Seeman for his work on the effect of magnetic fields on radiation. However, electron theory cannot explain other phenomena such as the photoelectric effect, and in fact these phenomena are incompatible with Lorenz's theory, and these anomalies stimulated the development of quantum theory. Lorenz is also known for his proposed solution to the problems raised in the 1880s by Albert Michelson and Edward Morley's experiments on the movement of the earth through the ether. This solution was also independently proposed by George Fitzgerald, so it was called the Lorenz Fitzgerald contraction. Lorenz expanded his concept and placed it on a more solid mathematical basis, publishing the final form called the Lorenz transformation in 1904. Part of this theory laid the foundation for Einstein's special theory of relativity. Lorenz died in Haarlem, the Netherlands, on February 4, 1928.