Heinrich Rudolf Hertz
1857–1894, Hamburg, German Confederation, Bonn, Germany
German physicist who experimentally confirmed Maxwell's electromagnetic waves, laying groundwork for radio and identifying the photoelectric effect.
Hertz studied in Berlin and received his doctorate in 1880 under Hermann von Helmholtz. After teaching in Kiel, he became a professor in Karlsruhe in 1885; experiments there generated and detected electromagnetic waves propagating through space.
In experiments of 1887–1888, he tested reflection, refraction, and interference of radio waves, confirming key predictions of Maxwell's theory. He also investigated the photoelectric effect; the unit of frequency, the hertz, is named in his honor.
Workplaces: University of Karlsruhe, University of Bonn
Germany