Ludvig Lorenz

Ludvig Valentin Lorenz was a Danish physicist and mathematician, born in Helsingør in 1829 and educated at the Technical University in Copenhagen, who became professor at the Military Academy in Copenhagen in 1876. In 1867 he gave completely general integral solutions to the differential equations of electromagnetism, which contain retardation effects reflecting the finite speed of light, and the paper also introduces the Lorenz gauge named after him. He also developed mathematical formulae describing the relation between the refraction of light and the density of a pure transparent substance and the relation between a metal's electrical and thermal conductivity and temperature, the latter known as the Wiedemann-Franz-Lorenz law. From 1887 his research was funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. His name is sometimes confused with that of the physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, who is incorrectly credited with Lorenz's work.