Pieter Zeeman was born on 25 May 1865 inZonnemaire, Netherlands, the son of the Reverend Catharinus Forandinus Zeeman, a minister of theDutch Reformed Church, and Willemina Worst.
Zeeman became interested in physics at an early age. In 1883, theaurora borealis happened to be visible in the Netherlands; Zeeman, then a student at the high school inZierikzee, made a drawing and description of the phenomenon and submitted it toNature, where it was published. The editor praised "the careful observations of Professor Zeeman from his observatory in Zonnemaire."
After finishing high school in 1883, Zeeman went toDelft for supplementary education inclassical languages, then a requirement for admission to university. He stayed at the home of Dr J. W. Lely, co-principal of thegymnasium and brother ofCornelis Lely, who was responsible for the concept and realization of theZuiderzee Works. While in Delft, he first metHeike Kamerlingh Onnes, who would become his doctoral advisor.
After passing the qualification exams in 1885, Zeeman enteredLeiden University to study physics under Kamerlingh Onnes andHendrik Lorentz. In 1890, he became Lorentz's assistant, which allowed him to participate in a research programme on theKerr effect. In 1893, he submitted his doctoral thesis on the Kerr effect,[8] the reflection ofpolarized light on a magnetized surface. After receiving hisPh.D., he went for half a year toFriedrich Kohlrausch's institute at theUniversity of Strassburg. In 1895, he returned to Leiden to become aPrivatdozent in mathematics and physics.[9][10][11][12]
In 1896, shortly before moving from Leiden to Amsterdam,[14] Zeeman measured the splitting ofspectral lines by a strongmagnetic field, a discovery now known as theZeeman effect. This research involved an investigation of the effect of magnetic fields on a light source. He discovered that a spectral line is split into several components in the presence of a magnetic field.Hendrik Lorentz first heard about Zeeman's observations on Saturday 31 October 1896 at the meeting of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, where these results were communicated byHeike Kamerlingh Onnes.[15] The next Monday, Lorentz called Zeeman into his office and presented him with an explanation of his observations, based on Lorentz's theory ofelectromagnetic radiation. In 1902, Zeeman and Lorentz were jointly awarded theNobel Prize in Physics for their respective experimental and theoretical work on the Zeeman effect.[16]
The importance of Zeeman's discovery soon became apparent; it confirmed Lorentz's prediction about the polarization of light emitted in the presence of a magnetic field. Thanks to Zeeman's work, it became clear that theoscillating particles, according to Lorentz were the source of light emission, were negatively charged, and were a thousandfold lighter than thehydrogen atom. This conclusion was reached well beforeJ. J. Thomson's discovery of theelectron. The Zeeman effect thus became an important tool for elucidating thestructure of the atom.
Shortly after his discovery, Zeeman was offered a position as a lecturer at theUniversity of Amsterdam, where he started to work in the autumn of 1896.[14] This was followed by his promotion to Professor of Physics in 1900. In 1908, he succeededJohannes van der Waals as full professor and Director of the Physics Institute. He retired as a professor in 1935.
In 1918, Zeeman published "Some experiments on gravitation: The ratio of mass to weight for crystals and radioactive substances" in theProceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, experimentally confirming theequivalence principle with regard to gravitational and inertial mass.
A new laboratory built in Amsterdam in 1923 was renamed the Zeeman Laboratory in 1940. This new facility allowed Zeeman to pursue a refined investigation of theZeeman effect. For the remainder of his career he remained interested in research inmagneto-optic effects. He also investigated the propagation of light in moving media. This subject became the focus of a renewed interest because ofspecial relativity, and enjoyed a keen interest from Lorentz andAlbert Einstein. Later in his career, he became interested inmass spectrometry.
"In recognition of the extraordinary service they rendered by their researches into the influence of magnetism upon radiation phenomena" (withHendrik Lorentz)
^"The Influence of a Magnetic Field on Radiation Frequency".Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.60 (359–367):513–514. 1896.doi:10.1098/rspl.1896.0079.
^"The Influence of a Magnetic Field on Radiation Frequency".Proceedings of the Royal Society of London.60 (359–367):514–515. 1896.doi:10.1098/rspl.1896.0080.
Zeeman, P. (1896)."Over de invloed eener magnetisatie op den aard van het door een stof uitgezonden licht" [On the influence of magnetism on the nature of the light emitted by a substance].Verslagen van de Gewone Vergaderingen der Wis- en Natuurkundige Afdeeling (Koninklijk Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam) [Reports of the Ordinary Sessions of the Mathematical and Physical Section (Royal Academy of Sciences in Amsterdam)] (in Dutch).5: 181–184 and 242–248.Bibcode:1896VMKAN...5..181Z.
Albert van HeldenPieter Zeeman 1865 – 1943 In: K. van Berkel, A. van Helden and L. Palm ed., A History of Science in The Netherlands. Survey, Themes and Reference (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 606 - 608.
