Talk:Lorentz–Lorenz equation

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Lorenz in German is pronounced the same as Lorentz in Dutch... -- Myria 06:50, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

If LorenTz "derived the formula independently in 1870", he was obviously a bright lad! (As the linked Wikipedia article shows) he was only born in 1853.

Lorenz and his work are often confused with that of the more famous H A Lorentz. In this case, it *might* be a doubled attribution of a single derivation. Note the closeness of dates, 1869 and 1870. An alternative suggestion is that Lorenz (the older man, without a 't') first *publicized* the formula in 1869 (e.g. at a physics conference), and had it published the following year (e.g. in a journal). Further research could yeasay or naysay this.

(The article may be derived from "The Hutchinson Encyclopedia; September 22, 2003; 191 Words ... the mathematical relationship between the refractive index and the density of a medium was published by Lorenz in 1869 and by Hendrick Lorentz (who discovered it independently) in 1870, and is therefore called the Lorentz-Lorenz formula . Using his electromagnetic ...") 212.219.231.1 11:36, 20 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

A more natural explanation is that the mentioned dates are just wrong. The original publications seem to be the following:

L. Lorenz: "Experimentale og theoretiske Undersögelser over Legemernes Brydningsforhold". Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter. 5. Reihe. 8. p. 205. 1869 und 10. p. 485. 1875.
H.A. Lorentz: "Over het verband tusschen de voortplantingssnelheid van het licht en de dichtheid en samenstelling der middenstoffen". Verhandelingen der Akad. van Wet. te Amsterdam, Deel 18, 1878.

Both authors then published their findings in 1880 in Wiedemanns Annalen:

L. Lorenz: "Ueber die Refractionsconstante", Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Vol. 247 (1880), Issue 9, p. 70–103, doi:10.1002/andp.18802470905.
H.A. Lorentz: "Ueber die Beziehung zwischen der Fortpflanzungsgeschwindigkeit des Lichtes und der Körperdichte", Annalen der Physik und Chemie, Vol. 245 (1880), Issue 4, p. 641–665 doi:10.1002/andp.18802450406.

--ulm (talk) 14:08, 28 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]