Joseph Larmor
Sir
Joseph Larmor (
July 11,
1857 -
May 19,
1942), an
Northern Irish physicist,
mathematician and
politician, researched
electricity,
dynamics, and
thermodynamics.
Larmor published the
Lorentz transformations in the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1897 (see Macrossan (1986)), some two years before
Hendrik Lorentz (1899, 1904) and eight years before
Albert Einstein (1905). Larmor predicted the
phenomenon of
time dilation, at least for orbiting electrons, and verified that the
FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction (
length contraction) should occur for bodies whose atoms where held together by electro-magnetic forces. In his book
Aether and Matter (1900), he again presented the Lorentz transformations, time dilation and length contraction (treating these as dynamic rather than
kinematic effects). Larmor was in opposition to
Albert Einstein's
theory of relativity (though he supported it for a short time). Larmor rejected both the
curvature of space and the special theory of relativity, to the extent that he claimed that an absolute time was essential to astronomy (Larmor 1924, 1927).
Larmor proposed that the
aether could be represented as a
homogeneous fluid medium which was perfectly in
compressible and
elastic. Larmor believed the aether was separate from matter. Larmor united
Lord Kelvin's model of spinning
gyrostats (e.g.,
vortexes) with this
theory.
Larmor held that
matter consisted of
particles moving in the aether. Larmor believed the source of
electric charge was a
"particle" (which as early as 1897 he was referring to as the
electron). Thus, in what was apparently the first specific prediction of
time dilation, he wrote "... individual electrons describe corresponding parts of their orbits in times shorter for the [rest] system in the ratio (1 - v
2/c
2)
1/2" (Larmor 1897).
Larmor held that the flow of charged particles constitutes the
current of
conduction (but was not part of the
atom). Larmor calculated the rate of
energy radiation from an
accelerating electron. Larmor explained the splitting of the
spectral lines in a
magnetic field by the
oscillation of electrons.
In February 1911 Joseph Larmor was elected as the
Unionist MP for
Cambridge University and remained in Parliament until the
General Election of 1922.
In
1919, Larmor proposed
sunspots are
self-regenerative dynamo action on the
Sun's surface.
:
1898 --
Adams Prize (Cambridge):
1914 --
De Morgan Medal (London Mathematical Society):
1915 --
Royal Medal (Royal Society):
1921 --
Copley Medal (Royal Society)
The
Crater Larmor on the
moon was named in his honour.
Larmor edited the complete works of
George Stokes and
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin. Larmor wrote the obituaries of George Stokes,
Josiah Gibbs, and William Thomson. Larmor's publications include:
* 1887, "On the direct applications of first principles in the theory of partial differential equations,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1891, "On the theory of electrodynamics,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1892, "On the theory of electrodynamics, as affected by the nature of the mechanical stresses in excited dielectrics,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1893-97, "Dynamical Theory of the Electric and Luminiferous Medium,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society; Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Series of 3 papers containing Larmor's physical theory of the universe. The last, containing the
Lorentz transformations, is 1897 (190): 205-300.
* 1894, "Least action as the fundamental formulation in dynamics and physics,"
Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.
* 1896, "The influence of a magnetic field on radiation frequency,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1896, "On the absolute minimum of optical deviation by a prism,"
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
* 1898, "Note on the complete scheme of electrodymnamic equations of a moving material medium, and electrostriction,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1898, "On the origin of magneto-optic rotation,"
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.
* 1900,
Aether and Matter. (renamed by
Horace Lamb Aether and no matter).
* 1903, "On the electrodymanic and thermal relations of energy of magnetisation,"
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1907, "Aether" in
Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London.
* 1908, "William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs. 1824-1907" (Obituary).
Proceedings of the Royal Society.
* 1924, "On Editing Newton,"
Nature.
* 1927, "Newtonion time essential to astronomy,"
Nature.
* 1929, "Mathematical and Physical Papers''. Cambridge Univ. Press.
*
George Gabriel Stokes*
Larmor Precession*
Larmor Frequency*
Larmor Radius*
Larmor's Theorem*
Larmor's Formula*
Lucasian professor*
Relativity of simultaneity* Einstein, A. (1905) "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper",
Annalen der Physik,
17, 891. English translation:
On the electrodynamics of moving bodies* Greco, Diane,
"Ether and field theories". Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
* Lorentz, H. A. (1899) "Simplified theory of electrical and optical phnomena in moving systems",
Proc. Acad. Science Amsterdam,
I, 427-43.
* Lorentz, H. A. (1904) "Electromagnetic phenomena in a system moving with any velocity less than that of light",
Proc. Acad. Science Amsterdam,
IV, 669-78.
* Macrossan, M. N. "
A note on relativity before Einstein",
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science,
37 (1986): 232-234.
* Warwick, Andrew,
"On the Role of the FitzGerald-Lorentz Contraction Hypothesis in the Development of Joseph Larmor's Electronic Theory of Matter". Archive for History of Exact Sciences 43 (1991): 29-91.
* Weisstein, Eric W.,
"Larmor, Joseph (1857-1942)". Science World.
*
"Larmor, Sir Joseph (1857-1942)". AIM25.
*
"Sir Joseph Larmor". Rug.ac.be.
*
"Sir Joseph Larmor". School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland.
*
"Joseph Larmor". University Science.
*
"Papers of Sir Joseph Larmor". Janus, University of Cambridge.
