Ludvig Lorenz - A Nineteenth-Century Theoretical Physicist

Ludvig Valentin Lorenz (1829-1891) was Denmark’s first theoretical physicist of international recognition. Although generally considered a secondary figure in the history of science, he contributed importantly to a wide range of subjects ranging from materials science to fundamental theories of optics and electrodynamics.

Apart from his theoretical work, he was also a brilliant experimenter who felt as much at home in his laboratory as behind his study desk. Today his name is eponymously associated with terms such as the Lorenz gauge, the Lorenz-Lorentz formula, the Lorenz-Mie theory and the Lorenz number.