Leonard Ornstein

File:L.S. Ornstein, before 1909 - 2.jpg

L. S. Ornstein, before 1909.

File:Leonard Ornstein mural, Oosterkade, Utrecht, 2021 - 1.jpg

Dutch artist collective De Strakke Hand: Leonard Ornstein mural, showing Ornstein as a cofounder of the Dutch Physical Society (Netherlands Physical Society) at his desk in 1921, and illustrating twice the random walk of a drunkard with a simplified formula for the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. Oosterkade, Utrecht, The Netherlands, not far from Ornstein's laboratory. Translated text: Prof. Ornstein researches random motion 1930. Note that the artists used the historical 1927 photograph of Ornstein at his desk.

Leonard Salomon Ornstein (12 November 1880 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands – 20 May 1941 in Utrecht, the Netherlands) was a Dutch physicist.

Biography

Ornstein studied theoretical physics with Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at the University of Leiden. He subsequently carried out Ph.D. research under the supervision of Lorentz, concerning an application of the statistical mechanics of Gibbs to molecular problems.

In 1914, Ornstein was appointed professor of physics, as successor of Peter Debye, at the University of Utrecht. Among his doctoral students was Jan Frederik Schouten. In 1922, Ornstein became director of the Physical Laboratory (Fysisch Laboratorium) and extended his research interests to experimental subjects. His precision measurements concerning intensities of spectral lines brought the Physical Laboratory in the international limelight.

Ornstein is also remembered for the Ornstein-Zernike theory (named after himself and Frederik Zernike) concerning correlation functions, and the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process (named after Ornstein and George Uhlenbeck), a stochastic process.

Together with Gilles Holst, director of the Philips Physics Laboratory (Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium), Ornstein was the driving force behind establishing the Netherlands Physical Society (Nederlandse Natuurkundige Vereniging, NNV) in 1921. From 1939 until November 1940, he was chairman of this society. From 1918 until 1922, he was chairman of the Dutch Zionist Society (Nederlandse Zionistische Vereniging). In 1929, he became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Immediately after the May 1940 German conquest and occupation of the Netherlands in World War II (see Battle of the Netherlands), a friend from the United States of America, the astronomer Peter van de Kamp, offered to bring Ornstein and his family to America. However, Ornstein did not accept this offer, since, as he put it, he would not leave his laboratory in Utrecht. The Nazis targeted Ornstein for his Jewish heritage and the university dismissed him in September 1940, barring him from entering his laboratory. In November 1940, the university's dismissal became official. On 29 November 1940, Ornstein withdrew his membership of the Netherlands Physical Society. During this period he increasingly distanced himself from public life, to the degree that he no longer wished to receive guests at home. Ornstein died on 20 May 1941, a year after German occupation, and six months after being barred from University.

One of the five buildings of the Department of Physics at the University of Utrecht is named the Leonard S. Ornstein Laboratory in his honor.

Publications

• Toepassing der statistische mechanica van Gibbs op moleculair-theoretische vraagstukken, Ph.D. thesis, 26 March 1908
• Problemen der kinetische theorie van de stof, 1915
• Strahlungsgesetz und Intensität von Mehrfachlinien, 1924
• Intensität der Komponenten im Zeemaneffekt, 1924
• On the theory of the Brownian motion, 1930
• De beteekenis der natuurkunde voor cultuur en maatschappij, 1932

See also

• Uithof
• Virial coefficient

External links

• Snelders H.A.M. (2007-02-01). "Ornstein, Leonard Salomon (1880-1941)", in: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland. Retrieved on 2007-03-30. (in Dutch).
• The Ornstein-Zernike equation in the canonical ensemble
• Template:PAGENAMEBASE at the Mathematics Genealogy ProjectTemplate:EditAtWikidata