[Kim Byung-min's Science Village] Lorentz Who Couldn't Surpass Einstein Must Overcome Stubbornness and Misconceptions

Lorentz, Who Found the Core of Special Relativity, Remembered as Einstein's Assistant
Synchrotron Accelerator That Produced Tamiflu Also Realized Lorentz's Paper as a Giant Device
Breaking the Cycle of History Without Learning Is Key to Winning Against COVID-19

Byungmin Kim, Science Writer

While organizing my house, I found a music box that I thought I had lost. As expected, it had been left unused for a long time and didn’t work. Most music boxes operate using a spring mechanism. However, this product runs on an electric motor, so I immediately replaced the battery. Even then, the music box still didn’t work. I quickly realized there was a problem with the motor. Unlike complex electronic components, the motor is a simple device made only of magnets and wire coils. If it were complicated, I might have blamed my incompetence, but the stoppage of something so simple only made me feel powerless. In fact, this device is small and simple, but it also possesses tremendous power relative to its appearance.

Thinking back to science classes during my school days, Fleming’s left-hand and right-hand rules come to mind. These rules use the index, middle, and thumb fingers to represent magnetic force, current, and force, respectively, explaining their effects and relationships. These were devised by British electrical engineer John Ambrose Fleming (1849?1945) to help electrical engineers easily understand the physical principles of electromagnetism using their fingers.

Interestingly, the person who discovered the principle is different from the one who devised the explanation, and the latter became more famous. The principle defines the force experienced by charged particles, such as electrons, within magnetic or electric fields. This was developed by Dutch physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853?1928), who advanced electromagnetic theory at the time and derived this force, which is now called the 'Lorentz force.'

Fleming’s rules are limited to cases where the angle between the magnetic field and current is perpendicular, so he explained it by arranging three fingers at right angles to each other. Of course, if Lorentz had stopped there, he would only be remembered as the scientist who defined the principle of motors. But thanks to Lorentz, it was revealed that electrons are responsible for matter absorbing energy and emitting light, and it was confirmed that electrons are real particles. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with his student Pieter Zeeman (1865?1943) for their paper on the 'influence of magnetism on radiation.'

Most people know theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879?1955) better than Lorentz. Similarly, Einstein’s special theory of relativity is more famous than Lorentz’s law. The core of special relativity is that time and space are not absolute physical quantities but relative depending on the observer.

Simply put, consider two cars driving toward each other. The speed of the other car is calculated by adding one’s own speed and the other’s speed, according to the principle of relativity. However, if the object changes from a car to light, this principle of relativity does not hold. The speed of light passing by a moving car remains constant regardless of whether it is moving in the same or opposite direction.

Faced with the uncomfortable truth that relativity theory and the invariance of the speed of light conflict, many physicists at the time thought the principle of relativity should be abandoned to resolve the dilemma. But Einstein adopted both principles as fundamental.

Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

People remember Einstein as the only person who reconciled two seemingly incompatible principles. But in reality, science does not rely on the unique ability of one person. Every result is influenced by the accumulated efforts of the scientific community. Einstein was able to easily find the mathematical relationship deducible from the two principles because it exactly matched the formula Lorentz had derived earlier. This is the 'Lorentz transformation,' which is the mathematical core of special relativity.

Einstein derived historically remarkable conclusions from the Lorentz transformation. Why did Lorentz, despite approaching special relativity, ultimately fail to reach it? Why did he remain only an assistant to a great discovery?

Before answering, let me ask another question: How do physical theories like the principle of relativity help us in our daily lives?

Here, we cannot avoid mentioning the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Like the motor of the music box, everything stopped due to the infectious disease. The daily life we thought would return to normal has no definite timeline. Every piece that moved the world became a stationary frame, as described in physics. In viral infectious diseases, treatments and vaccines control the spread of disease. Since there are currently no suitable vaccines or treatments, humanity’s activities have come to a halt, relying solely on prevention and immunity.

So, what kind of treatment are many infected people currently receiving at medical institutions? Mostly symptomatic relief. The only drugs targeting the virus are existing antiviral agents. During a pandemic like this, there is no time to develop appropriate treatments. Antiviral drugs are treatments that block or suppress the replication and proliferation of viruses that have entered the human body.

Recall the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Despite millions of infections, large-scale damage was prevented thanks to the antiviral drug 'Tamiflu.' How was Tamiflu developed so quickly? Because the protein binding structure between the influenza virus and cells was revealed, leading directly to drug development.

When glycoproteins on the virus envelope recognize receptors on human cells, the cell engulfs the virus via the cell membrane. This process is infection, and inside the cell, the virus replicates its genetic material. After replication, the newly produced viruses destroy the cell and escape.

Tamiflu binds to the enzyme glycoprotein and blocks the virus’s escape. As a result, while the spread of replicated viruses is prevented, the body’s immune system gains time. Ultimately, Tamiflu’s role is to reach the site and kill infected cells.

How did humanity learn how protein molecules interact with cells? There is an important but little-known contributor: the synchrotron radiation accelerator. At that time, pharmaceutical companies used the synchrotron radiation accelerator at Stanford University in the United States to reveal protein structures and binding principles. So, what is a synchrotron radiation accelerator? Since Lorentz’s Nobel Prize paper also includes the word 'radiation,' it seems deeply connected.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

A synchrotron radiation accelerator is a kind of light factory. It accelerates electrons close to the speed of light. When electrons moving at relativistic speeds are deflected by electromagnetic fields according to the Lorentz force principle, their trajectory curves, producing energy in the form of X-ray synchrotron radiation. Lorentz’s paper was realized in a massive device. This X-ray light allows us to observe physical and chemical structures and reactions at the atomic level like a movie.

The development of Tamiflu was possible because it was understood how pathogenic proteins acting outside the cell membrane interact with the membrane. The use of synchrotron radiation is essential not only in this field but in all science and industry.

Of course, South Korea also has a synchrotron radiation accelerator. However, the accelerator installed long ago at a university in Pohang is already saturated and produces poor-quality light, effectively losing international competitiveness. Most advanced countries’ synchrotron radiation accelerators produce high-quality light. Nearby Japan alone has eight such facilities. Japan’s rise as a scientific powerhouse is not due to anything special but because its basic science is solid. Somewhere on Earth right now, the reality of COVID-19 is being uncovered.

Even those unfamiliar with science recognize the existence and value of synchrotron radiation accelerators as common knowledge. Unfortunately, this common knowledge is still ignored, and new synchrotron radiation accelerators struggle to find a place.

The genius Lorentz’s achievements were great. But he failed to trust the principle of relativity, which is common sense to physicists, and thus did not reach special relativity. It is said that even after Einstein’s theory emerged, Lorentz did not accept it.

A reality that ignores common sense but mistakenly believes itself to be strong will eventually collapse. Capital and profit, disguised as neoliberalism, have become the driving forces moving the world. Everything rushed forward without reflection, only looking toward an uncertain future. The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated current human civilization with X-rays like synchrotron radiation, revealing uncomfortable truths and humanity’s bare face. These truths may disappear with the return to normal life after the infectious period ends.

The disappearance of common sense and lack of learning cause history to repeat itself. Even if everything stops, there are things that must not stop.

Adjunct Professor, Nano Convergence School, Hallym University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.