Lucien de la Rive (3 April 18344 May 1924) was a Swiss physicist. He studied

electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of ...

and wrote an early article on the

Theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...

. He was also interested in

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, and published a translation of works of

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

Life

De la Rive was born in

Choulex Choulex is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Choulex is first mentioned in 1153 as ''Cholay''. Geography Choulex has an area, , of . Of this area, or 73.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 9.5% is forest ...

, Switzerland, son of the physicist

Auguste Arthur de la Rive Prof Auguste Arthur de la Rive ForMemRS, HFRSE (9 October 180127 November 1873) was a Swiss physicist. He was President of the Helvetic Society of Natural Science in 1845. De la Rive's first scientific publication was on the influence of the Ear ...

. He studied at the Academy of Geneva and at the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

in Paris. In 1863, he published an article ("On the number of independent equations in the solution of a system of linear currents", relating to

Kirchhoff's circuit laws Kirchhoff's circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the current and potential difference (commonly known as voltage) in the lumped element model of electrical circuits. They were first described in 1845 by German physicist Gustav Kirc ...

), and between then and 1918 published many scientific studies on gravitation, the theory of

electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no ...

s and

Maxwell's equations Maxwell's equations, or Maxwell–Heaviside equations, are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. ...

. From 1889 to 1893, he researched the propagation of electromagnetic waves with Edouard Sarasin. In 1914, he published ("The aberration of light and the equations of the theory of relativity") and an essay on Henri Poincaré. In 1909, he was appointed Doctor ''honoris causa'' of the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

. Also interested in literature, he wrote translations of works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1870) and an essay on John Milton (1886). He married Louise Scherer in 1867.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:La Rive, Lucien de 1834 births 1924 deaths People from the canton of Geneva 19th-century Swiss physicists 20th-century Swiss physicists Swiss translators 19th-century translators 20th-century translators