= Pieter Zeeman
{c}
{tag=Physicist}
= P. Zeeman
{c}
{synonym}
<Pieter Zeeman> observed changes in emitted <light> when its source was placed in a <magnetic field>. Resolving the components and their <wave polarization> connected the spectral pattern with the direction of observation. The <magnetic field> changes atomic <energy levels>, while <selection rules> determine which polarized components are visible. Comparing observations along and across the <magnetic field> therefore tests more than a simple increase in line width: it connects the <Zeeman effect> to both atomic structure and experimental geometry.<On the Influence of Magnetism on the Nature of the Light Emitted by a Substance (Part I) by Pieter Zeeman>[Original observation and spectral changes]{ref}<On the Influence of Magnetism on the Nature of the Light Emitted by a Substance (Part II) by Pieter Zeeman>[Polarization and observation geometry]{ref}
A <physicist>.https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=7221[Biographical identity and professional specialization]{ref}
\Image[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Pieter_Zeeman_1902.jpg]
{title=Portrait of <Pieter Zeeman>}
{width=240}
The <Zeeman effect> connects a laboratory <magnetic field> to the frequencies and <wave polarization> of <light> emitted by <chemical atoms>. Its experimental history makes the viewing direction and spectral resolving power essential to the inference.
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