Background

George Fitzgerald was born on August 3, 1851, in Dublin, Ireland. He was the son of the Reverend William FitzGerald and his wife Anne Frances Stoney.

Education

George studied at Trinity College.

Career

FitzGerald was one of the initial group, which included Heaviside, Hertz, and Lorentz, that took Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory seriously and began to explore its consequences. Very few others used Maxwell’s theory to obtain results beyond those investigated by Maxwell himself. Among the first attempts to use the theory for such results was FitzGerlad’s paper, “Electromagnetic Theory of the Reflection and Refraction of Light,” which Maxwell reviewed for the Philosophical Transactions, noting that it related to work carried out by H. A. Lorentz.

It is ironic that FitzGerald is best known for work that was probably of minor importance to him and was outside his work in electromagnetic theory. Together with Lorentz he is credited with being the first to explain the null results of the Michelson-Morley experiment as due to the contraction of an arm of the interferometer, which resulted from its motion through the ether. FitzGerald’s ideas on the subject were published in Science in 1889, and he also discussed the contraction hypothesis with Oliver Lodge. In 1894 Lorentz wrote to FitzGerald about the hypothesis, and inquired whether he had indeed published on it. In his reply, FitzGerald mentioned his letter to Science, but at the same time admitted that he did not know if the letter had ever been printed and that he was “pretty sure” Lorentz had priority. Soon Lorentz began to refer to FitzGerald in his discussions.

Only after FitzGerald’s death did English physicists begin to take any further notice. Thus in his Adam’s Prize essay, published as Aether and Matter, Larmor discussed the Michelson-Morley experiment and the contraction effect in detail, but only Lorentz was mentioned in this connection. Two years later, Larmor, in his introduction to FitzGerald’s papers claimed priority for FitzGerald on the contraction effect. E. T. Whittaker, in the History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity, states that Lorentz obtained the hypothesis from FitzGerald; but it appears that Lorentz’ concept was independent of FitzGerald’s and that he was just giving due credit to FitzGerald.

FitzGerald carried on an extensive correspondence with Heaviside from 1888 to 1900, in which they discussed many major problems of the physics of the period. In all the surviving correspondence, the Michelson-Morley experiment is mentioned only once. The interest in the Michelson-Morley experiment from the time of the experiment until the development of the theory of relativity has perhaps been exaggerated.

It is worth noting that FitzGerald also took seriously his responsibilities as a teacher, both in Trinity College, Dublin, where he spent his academic life as student and teacher, and throughout Ireland through the boards he served on.

Achievements

• George FitzGerald is known for his work in electromagnetic theory and for the Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction, which became an integral part of Einstein's special theory of relativity. A crater on the far side of the Moon is named for him, as is a building at Trinity College, Dublin.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science

    (Excerpt from The London, Edinburgh and Dublin Philosophic...)

    1893
  • The Scientific Writings of the Late George Francis Fitzgerald 1902

Connections

FitzGerald married, on 21 December 1885, Harriette Mary, daughter of the Reverend John Hewitt Jellett, Provost of Trinity College Dublin. He had eight children by her, three sons and five daughters.

Father:

William FitzGerald

Mother:

Anne Frances Stoney FitzGerald

Spouse:

Harriette Mary FitzGerald

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography