Talk:Pieter Zeeman

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Help with this template Comments: edit – history – watch – refresh hello, here's some suggestions: try to work on lead per WP:LEAD and also it lacks inline citations. Also, it has a cleanup tag. If you'd like to get a higher rating than B (which is a good rating, BTW), you can submit it to GA or seek a Peer review with us to see if it rates A --plange 05:37, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

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[edit] Biography problems

The biography seems to be comprised of a quick summary of his life followed by a much longer and more detailed summary. While the former is shorter and should be merged with the latter, my concern is whether the latter was copied. 24.126.199.129 22:58, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

see Pieter Zeeman - Biography at the Web Site of the Nobel Foundation 12.74.162.32 15:44, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Priority

There appears to be quite a bit of confusion about priority. The earlier version of this article stated "In 1896, at the request of Lorentz, he began investigating the effect of magnetic fields on a light source and discovered what is now known as the Zeeman effect."
Kox, in his inaugural lecture tells a different story. According to Kox, Zeeman worked at the time under Kamerlingh Onnes, on a project about the conductivity of fluids. Kox suggests that Zeeman did his famous experiment a sort of in between his other lab work without anybody, including his chief Kamerlingh Onnes, knowing about it. Zeeman made his first crucial discovery on Wednesday September 2, 1896. By the end of September, after some more in between experiments, he felt confident enough to tell Kamerlingh Onnes about it. Kamerlingh Onnes was sufficiently impressed to think that it should be published.
Kamerling Onnes (who was a member of the Academy of Sciences, while Zeeman was not) communicated Zeeman's results to the Academy on Saturday October 31, 1896. That was where Lorentz, also an Academy member, first heard about it. Lorentz has an explanation ready, based on his theory of electromagnetic radiation. Where Lorentz came in was the issue of polarization. It was Lorentz' suggestion that Zeeman should look at polarization effects, since Lorentz' theory made certain predictions about that. JdH 15:40, 16 September 2006 (UTC)