Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857 - 1894)

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was a German physicist and inventor of radio waves.

Hertz graduated from the University of Berlin, studying under Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff, then was a professor of physics at the University of Karlsruhe, and from 1889 became a professor of physics at the University of Bonn.

A tireless experimenter, Hertz conducted various experiments with electric waves. Hertz reported his first discovery at the end of 1887 in a treatise "On the electromagnetic effects caused by electrical perturbations in insulators," which he sent to the Berlin Academy. For a time the waves he discovered were called Hertzian waves, but today they are known as radio waves. Hertz's discovery was a confirmation of James Clerk Maxwell's electromagnetic theory and paved the way for numerous advances in communication technology.

Hertz is also known for the discovery of the photoelectric effect, which occurred during his research on electromagnetic waves. Hertz was only 37 years old at the time of his death and many of his experiments and work remained unfinished, but his discovery of radio waves had a huge impact on the world in the 20th century, paving the way for the development of radio, television and radar.