Hertz, Heinrich Rudolf
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857-1894) was born in Hamburg, Germany on February 22, 1857. Hertz was initially interested in becoming an engineer and attended the University of Munich (1877-1878). However, his desire for becoming an engineer was short lived; after only one year, he moved to Berlin where he continued his studies at the University of Berlin where he dedicated himself to the natural sciences. He studied under the guidance of some of the most prominent physicists of his time, including Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchoff. In 1880, he received his PhD for his research related to electromagnetics. By 1883, Hertz began teaching theoretical physics at the University of Kiel in Germany. It was during this time that Hertz began to test James Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory, which Maxwell had hypothesized in 1865. Hertz was the first to produce and recognize electromagnetic waves, also known as hertzian waves, or radio waves (1886–1889). He demonstrated that they are long, transverse waves that travel at the velocity of light and can be reflected, refracted, and polarized like light. Hertz’ experiments with electromagnetic waves revolutionized society enabling the development of the wireless telegraph and the radio, and later, television and radar. Hertz also discovered that cathode rays could be produced at a much lower voltage if the cathode were illuminated with ultraviolet light, a phenomenon that became known as the photoelectric effect. The unit of frequency, 'hertz', was named in his honor.
Further Reading
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz - Biography (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute of Chemistry)
Heinrich Hertz - Short Biography (IEEE Virtual Museum)
