Scientist Heinrich. Scientific works of Hertz

Throughout the history of science, many discoveries have been made. However, only a few of them we have to deal with every day. Impossible to imagine modern life and without what Hertz Heinrich Rudolph did.

This German physicist became the founder of dynamics and proved to the whole world the existence of electro magnetic waves. It is thanks to his research that we use television and radio, which have firmly entered the life of every person.

A family

Heinrich Hertz was born on February 22, 1857. His father, Gustav, was a lawyer by the nature of his work, after which he rose to the rank of senator of the city of Hamburg, where the family lived. The boy's mother is Betty Augusta. She was the daughter of the famous Cologne bank founder. It is worth saying that this institution is still functioning in Germany. Heinrich was the firstborn of Betty and Gustav. Later, three more boys and one girl appeared in the family.

School years

As a child, Heinrich Hertz was a weak and sickly boy. That is why he did not like outdoor games and physical exercises. But on the other hand, Heinrich read various books with great enthusiasm and studied foreign languages. All this contributed to the training of memory. Exist Interesting Facts biographies of the future scientist, which say that the boy managed to learn on his own Arabic language and Sanskrit.

Parents believed that their first-born would certainly become a lawyer, following in the footsteps of his father. The boy was sent to the Hamburg Real School. There he was to study law. However, at one of the levels of education at the school, classes in physics began to be held. And from that moment on, Henry's interests changed radically. Fortunately, his parents did not insist on studying law. They allowed the boy to find his calling in life and transferred him to the gymnasium. On weekends, Heinrich studied at the school of crafts. The boy spent a lot of time behind the drawings, studying carpentry. As a schoolboy, he made his first attempts to create instruments and apparatus for studying physical phenomena. All this testified that the child is drawn to knowledge.

Student years

In 1875, Heinrich Hertz received his Abitur. This gave him the right to go to university. In 1875 he left for Dresden, where he became a student at a higher technical school. At first, the young man liked studying at this institution. However, Heinrich Hertz soon realized that a career as an engineer was not his calling. The young man left the school and went to Munich, where he was accepted immediately to the second year of the university.

The path to science

As a student, Heinrich began to strive for research activities. But soon the young man realized that the knowledge received at the university was clearly not enough for this. That is why, having received a diploma, he went to Berlin. Here, in the capital of Germany, Heinrich became a university student and got a job as an assistant in the laboratory of Hermann Helmholtz. This prominent physicist of that time noticed a talented young man. Soon a good relationship was established between them, which later turned not only into close friendship but also in scientific collaboration.

Getting a PhD

Memory of a great scientist

In 1892, Hertz suffered a severe migraine, after which he was diagnosed with an infection. The scientist was operated on several times, trying to get rid of the disease. However, at the age of thirty-six, Hertz Heinrich Rudolf died of blood poisoning. up to the very last days famous physicist worked on his work "Principles of Mechanics set forth in new connection". In this book, Hertz tried to comprehend his discoveries by outlining further ways study

After the death of the scientist, this work was completed and prepared for publication by Hermann Helmholtz. In the preface to this book, he pointed out that Hertz was the most talented of his students, and that his discoveries would later determine the development of science. These words became prophetic. Interest in the discoveries of the scientist appeared among researchers a few years after his death. And in the 20th century, on the basis of the works of Hertz, almost all areas that belong to modern physics began to develop.

In 1925, for the discovery of laws on the collision of electrons with an atom, the scientist was awarded the Nobel Prize. Received her nephew of the great physicist - Gustav Ludwig Hertz. In 1930, the International Electrotechnical Commission adopted a new unit of measurement system. She became Hertz (Hz). This is the frequency corresponding to one oscillation period per second.

In 1969 on the territory East Germany erected a memorial to them. G. Hertz. In 1987 the Heinrich Hertz IEEE medal was established. Its annual award is made for outstanding achievements in the field of experiment and theory using any waves. Even named after Hertz lunar crater, which is located behind the eastern edge of the celestial body.

(German Heinrich Rudolf Hertz) - German physicist, one of the founders of electrodynamics. He experimentally proved the existence of electromagnetic waves and established the identity of the basic properties of electromagnetic and light waves. Attached to Maxwell's equations symmetrical shape. Discovered the external photoelectric effect. He built a mechanics free from the concept of force. Hertz's experiments played essential role in the development of modern electrodynamics.

Hertz confirmed the conclusions of Maxwell's theory that the speed of propagation of electromagnetic waves in air is equal to the speed of light, established the identity of the basic properties of electromagnetic and light waves. Hertz also studied the propagation of magnetic waves in a conductor and indicated a method for measuring the speed of their propagation.

Hertz's work on electrodynamics played huge role in the development of science and technology. His work gave rise to wireless telegraph, radio and television.

In 1888, Heinrich Hertz made experiments on the propagation of electromagnetic waves, which gave experimental confirmation electromagnetic theory light created by Faraday and Maxwell. According to this theory, electromagnetic waves are essentially completely homogeneous with light rays, they obey the same laws of reflection, refraction, etc., as light waves, and differ from the latter only in their length (or the number of oscillations per second). Hertz's experiments were the seed from which the wireless telegraph subsequently grew.

In the history of science, there are not many discoveries that you have to come into contact with every day. But without what Heinrich Hertz did, it is already impossible to imagine modern life, since radio and television are a necessary part of our life, and he made a discovery in this area.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born on February 22, 1857 in the family of a lawyer. The boy was weak and sickly, but he successfully overcame the unusually difficult first years of his life, and, to the delight of his parents, he evened out, became healthy and cheerful.

Everyone believed that he would follow in his father's footsteps. And indeed, Heinrich entered the Hamburg real school and was going to study law. However, after they began classes in physics at their school, his interests changed dramatically.

Fortunately, the parents did not interfere with the boy's search for his vocation and allowed him to go to the gymnasium, after graduating from which he received the right to enter the university. Having received the certificate of maturity. Hertz left in 1875 for Dresden and entered higher technical school. At first he liked it there, but gradually the young man realized that a career as an engineer was not for him.

On November 1, 1877, he sent a letter to his parents, where there were such words: “I used to often say to myself that being a mediocre engineer is preferable to me than a mediocre scientist. And now I think that Schiller is right when he said: will not succeed in it. "And this excessive caution of me would be madness on my part."

Therefore, Hertz left the school and went to Munich, where he was accepted immediately into the second year of the university. The years spent in Munich showed that university knowledge was not enough; for independent scientific studies it was necessary to find a scientist who would agree to become his supervisor. That is why, after graduating from university, Hertz went to Berlin, where he got a job as an assistant in the laboratory of the largest German physicist of that time, Hermann Helmholtz.

Helmholtz soon noticed a talented young man, and between them established a good relationship which subsequently turned into close friendship and at the same time into scientific cooperation. Under the guidance of Helmholtz, Hertz defended his thesis and became a recognized specialist in his field.

The aspiring scientist was completely captured by the work on a doctoral dissertation, which is mandatory for a university graduate, which he wanted to complete as soon as possible. On February 5, 1880, Heinrich Hertz was crowned with the degree of Doctor of Science with a rare in the history of the University of Berlin, and even with such strict professors as Kirchhoff and Helmholtz, the predicate - with honors. His graduate work"On Induction in a Rotating Sphere" was theoretical, and he continued to engage in theoretical research in physical institute at the university.

On the recommendation of his teacher, in 1883 Hertz received the post of assistant professor in Kiel, and six years later became professor of physics at the Higher technical school in Karlsruhe. Here, Hertz had his own experimental laboratory, which provided him with the freedom of creativity, the opportunity to do what he felt interested and recognized.

Hertz realized that most of all he was interested in electricity, fast electrical vibrations, on the study of which he worked in student years. It was in Karlsruhe that the most fruitful period his scientific activity, which, unfortunately, did not last long.

By the beginning of Hertz's research, electrical oscillations had been studied both theoretically and experimentally. Hertz, with his keen attention to this subject, found a pair of induction coils in the physics room intended for lecture demonstrations. “It struck me,” he wrote, “that in order to obtain sparks in one winding, it was not necessary to discharge large batteries through another and, moreover, that small Leyden jars and even discharges of a small induction apparatus were sufficient for this, if only the discharge pierced the spark gap” . Experimenting with these coils, Hertz came up with the idea of ​​his first experience.

Hertz designed the generator and receiver of electrical oscillations, studying the inductive action of the oscillatory circuit of the generator on oscillatory circuit receiver at maximum distance three meters between them.

The scientist continued his research in the wave zone of his vibrator, the field of which he later calculated theoretically. In a number of subsequent works, he irrefutably proved the existence of electromagnetic waves propagating with final speed. "The results of my experiments on fast electrical oscillations," Hertz wrote in his eighth article in 1888, "showed me that Maxwell's theory has an advantage over all other theories of electrodynamics."

In this way. Hertz, in the course of his research, finally and unconditionally switched to Maxwell's point of view, gave a convenient form to his equations, supplemented Maxwell's theory with the theory electromagnetic radiation. Hertz obtained experimentally the electromagnetic waves predicted by Maxwell's theory and showed their identity with the waves of light.

In 1889, at the 62nd Congress of German Naturalists and Physicians, Hertz delivered a report "On the relationship between light and electricity." Here he summarizes his experiences in following words: "All these experiments are very simple in principle, but, nevertheless, they entail the most important consequences. They destroy any theory that believes that electrical forces jump over space instantly. They signify a brilliant victory for Maxwell's theory... As unlikely as her view of the essence of light seemed before, it is now so difficult not to share this view. Hertz's experiments caused a huge response. Special attention attracted the experiments described in the work "On the rays of electric force."

AT last years During his lifetime, Hertz moved to Bonn, where he also headed the department of physics at the local university. There he made another major discovery. In his work "On the Influence ultraviolet light on the electrical discharge", received by the "Protocols of the Berlin Academy of Sciences" on June 9, 1887, Hertz describes an important phenomenon discovered by him and later called the photoelectric effect.

Heinrich Hertz did not have time to study this phenomenon in detail, since he died suddenly on January 1, 1894. Until the last days of his life, the scientist worked on the book "Principles of Mechanics, set forth in a new connection." In it, he sought to comprehend own discoveries and outline further ways of investigating electrical phenomena.

After the untimely death of the scientist, this work was completed and prepared for publication by Hermann Helmholtz. In the preface to the book, he called Hertz the most talented of his students and predicted that his discoveries would determine the development of science for many decades to come.

As an SI unit Hertz (Hz) was established in his honor by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1930 for a frequency corresponding to one period of oscillation per second.

Heinrich Hertz Medal(German Heinrich Hertz IEEE) was established in 1987 "for outstanding achievements in the field of theory or experiment obtained with the help of any waves", and is awarded annually. In honor of Hertz, a crater was named, which is located on reverse side Moon.

The date of February 22, 1857 forever entered the annals of physics, it was then that Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born, a talented researcher, the founder of dynamics, who proved to the world the existence of electromagnetic waves

Heinrich Hertz grew up in the house of a lawyer, the boy's father, Gustav, a lawyer by occupation, eventually rose to the position of his senator hometown Hamburg. Mother - Betty Augusta, was the daughter of a noble Cologne magnate, the founder of a bank that still operates in Germany. Heinrich became the firstborn of Gustav and Betty, then he had three younger brothers and a sister.

As a child, the boy was distinguished by poor health, so he did not like outdoor games or physical education, but he enthusiastically read books and taught foreign languages, training memory. He taught himself Sanskrit and Arabic. Along with the gymnasium, Heinrich went to the school of crafts on weekends, where he spent a lot of time drawing and studying carpentry. Even at school, he made attempts to create apparatus and instruments for the study of physics, and these signs indicated that the child was striving for knowledge.

After graduating from school and receiving a certificate, the young man continued his studies, first in Dresden, and later in Munich, got acquainted with technical disciplines in the German capital. But the profession of an engineer no longer attracted Heinrich, the desire to engage in scientific activity defeated all doubts, and in 1878 he became a student at the University of Berlin. There, the fateful meeting of the young Hertz with the talented physicist and experienced inventor Hermann Helmholtz took place. He noticed the outstanding abilities of Heinrich and became his leader in practical classes. At that time, neither the magnetic nor the electric field had been fully explored. It was believed that there are simple fluids that have inertia, and it is from this inertia that an electric current appears and disappears in a conductor.

Heinrich conducted experiments to identify inertia, but at first there was no result. Despite this, in 1879 his work received a prize from the university, which was the impetus for continuing practical exercises. The young naturalist was not upset by failures and stubbornly continued his research, which formed the basis of his doctoral dissertation. On February 5, 1889, Heinrich, who at that time was 32 years old, defended her with excellent marks.

In 1882, the young scientist became interested in studying the theory of elasticity and spent a lot of time solving problems. Then he moved to the town of Kiel - there he was offered to lecture on theoretical physics at the university. Three years later he received a professorship at high school in Karlsruhe and married Elisabeth Doll.

Having become a married man, Heinrich did not abandon his experiments. He continued to work on the study of inertia, drawing on the theory of Maxwell, who proposed that radio waves were as fast as the speed of light. During three years, starting from 1886 and ending in 1889, Hertz conducted his experiments and nevertheless found proof that electromagnetic waves actually exist.

And although the young physicist used primitive equipment for his experiments, he was able to get surprisingly serious results. His work confirmed the existence of electromagnetic waves, in addition, he determined the speed with which they propagate, reflect and refract. This discovery laid the foundations of modern electrodynamics, and Heinrich Hertz was awarded many prizes for his work. So in 1889, the Society of Sciences in Italy presented him with a medal. Matteuci, the Academy of Sciences of Paris awarded the scientist worthy prize In addition, the Academy in Vienna presented the young talent with the Baumgartner Prize. Almost immediately, Heinrich became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Rome, Vienna and Munich. The unit of frequency, Hertz, was named after him.
The famous discoverer empirically confirmed Maxwell's theory - the speed of waves and the speed of light are absolutely identical. The conclusions made by Heinrich are truly invaluable; on their basis, wireless telegraph, television and radio were subsequently created.

The discovery of the photoelectric effect is associated with the name of Heinrich. During the tests, he needed special lighting in order to clearly see the spark during the experiments. To do this, the famous physicist put the receiver inside a dark box, and noted that the length of the spark in the box becomes much smaller. Heinrich continued to study this fact, and determined the relationship of the spark with environment. So, for example, he found that the length of the spark depends on the material from which the screen is made between the receiver and transmitter. Some materials freely passed electromagnetic waves, while other materials reflected and refracted them. This observation later became the basis for the invention of radar.
The results of these experiments led to the discovery of a new physical phenomenon called the photoelectric effect. Several decades later, Albert Einstein, continuing to study this phenomenon, explained it from the point of view of theory, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.

The final years of the activity of the German tester are connected with the writing of a serious work "The principles of mechanics, set forth in a new connection." In this work, the author presents readers unusual approach to the above discipline. He proved the basic theorems of mechanics, and also described the mathematical apparatus, using his own original method, known today as the "Hertz principle" (it is also called the principle of least curvature).

Heinrich Hertz died on January 1, 1894, in Bonn. At that time he was 36 years old. The cause of death was blood poisoning, which was a complication after suffering a migraine. And even the fact that he underwent several operations could not save the inventor, it was not possible to defeat the disease.

The scientist was buried in Hamburg. Heinrich's wife remained faithful to her beloved and never remarried. Together with their two daughters, Matilda and Joanna, the scientist's widow emigrated to England in the 1930s. Heinrich's daughters were never married and also had no children, for this reason the German explorer did not leave any descendants.

But the name Hertz sounded many times in scientific circles - Heinrich's nephew - Gustav Ludwig Hertz also connected his life with physics and even received Nobel Prize. Gustav's son, Karl Hertz, invented sonography, a method of examination used in medicine.
In 1930, the International Electrotechnical Commission officially established the unit of measurement - Hertz. The discovery of a successful experimenter perpetuated the memory of him and made him world famous.

In 1896, the scientist Popov, the inventor of radio, transmitted and received the world's first radiogram. Its text consisted of two words "Heinrich Hertz". It was a tribute to the German physicist who contributed huge contribution in science, experimentally proving the existence of electromagnetic waves. In the history of science, there are not many discoveries that we come into contact with on a daily basis. But without Heinrich Hertz modern world would look very different, because everything intended for communication is based on his inventions.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born on February 22, 1857 in the family of a respected lawyer. The boy grew up weak and sickly, but he successfully survived the difficult first years of his life, and grew up cheerful and healthy, to the delight of his parents. Everyone around him predicted an amazing career if he chose to follow in his father's footsteps. Heinrich was going to do just that - he entered the Hamburg Real School and was going to study law. But his interests changed when the course of physics began at the school. The parents did not prevent their son from making his own choice and allowed him to move from school to gymnasium, after which he could enter the university.

In 1875 Hertz left for Dresden and entered the Higher Technical School. At first he liked the profession of an engineer, but later he wrote to his mother that being a mediocre scientist was preferable to him than being a mediocre engineer. Therefore, he left the school and went to Munich, where he was immediately accepted into the second year of the university. The years spent in Munich showed Heinrich that university knowledge was not enough, a scientist was needed who was willing to become his supervisor. Therefore, after graduating from the university, Hertz went to Berlin and got a job as an assistant in the laboratory of the largest German physicist of that time, Hermann Helmholtz.

The venerable scientist drew attention to a talented young man, they established good relations, which resulted in strong friendship and close scientific cooperation. Under the guidance of Helmholtz, Hertz successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "On induction in a rotating ball". At some point, Heinrich began to doubt that his published theoretical work are of value to him as a scientist. He was more and more attracted to experiments.

Under the patronage of his teacher, Hertz received a position as an assistant professor in Kiel, and six years later became a professor of physics at the Higher Technical School in Karlsruhe. There, Hertz was equipped scientific laboratory for experiments, which gave him complete creative freedom and the opportunity to do those things in which he felt an interest.

Heinrich Hertz realized that most of all he was interested in fast electrical oscillations, on the study of which he worked as a student. It was in Karlsruhe that the most fruitful scientific period Hertz, which, unfortunately, did not last long.

After his report on December 13, 1888 in Berlin University Hertz became a popular and reputable scientist, and electromagnetic waves began to be universally referred to as "Hertz rays". In 1932, in the USSR, and then in 1933, at a meeting of the International Electrotechnical Commission, the frequency unit "hertz" was adopted, which was then included in international system SI.

In 1892, Hertz was diagnosed with an infection, he was operated on several times, but they could not save him, he died at the age of 36 in Bonn. He was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery. His wife Elisabeth Hertz remained a widow. The Hertz spouses had two daughters, Joanna and Matilda. After Hitler came to power, all three emigrated to England. Despite the fact that Hertz was a Protestant and did not consider him a Jew, the Nazis removed his portrait from a place of honor on the Hamburg City Hall because he was of "partial Jewish origin."

"Evening Moscow" recalled Hertz's discoveries, without which the modern world would be completely different.

Experiments with electromagnetic waves

electromagnetic theory English physics James Maxwell 25 did not find recognition in scientific world. Hertz took only 2 years to confirm it experimentally. In his experiments, the scientist was able to reproduce with electromagnetic waves all the phenomena typical of any waves: the formation of a "shadow" behind well-reflecting objects (in this case- metal), refraction in a large prism (made of asphalt), formation standing wave as a result of the superposition of a wave incident on a metal sheet and a wave reflected by this sheet. He not only proved the similarity of electromagnetic and light waves, but also managed to measure their length.

Vibrator and Hertz resonator

The English physicist Maxwell proved theoretically that oscillating charged particles can emit electromagnetic waves, and the energy of the resulting wave is greater, the greater the frequency of oscillations. It was not difficult to make charged particles oscillate - you need to connect a capacitor and an inductor to get an oscillating circuit. But how to increase the frequency of charge oscillations so that the energy of the emitted waves becomes higher?

Hertz found a solution - he pushed the capacitor plates apart and reduced the plate area. As a result of these manipulations, he received an open oscillatory circuit or wire. To further increase the frequency of oscillation of the electrons inside the wire, Hertz will reduce the number of turns of the coil.

But now it was necessary to make the electrons oscillate inside the resulting piece of wire. Heinrich cut the wire in half, and connected the ends to a high voltage source so that electric sparks would appear between the pieces of wire.

Thus, Hertz made a vibrator (emitter) and a resonator (receiver) of electromagnetic waves. The Hertz vibrator looks like two copper rods with brass balls mounted on the nearest ends. The gap between them is the spark gap. A high voltage current was applied to the rods, and in certain moment an electric spark arose between the balls, making the resistance of its air gap so small that high-frequency electromagnetic oscillations. Since the vibrator is an open oscillatory circuit, electromagnetic waves are emitted.

To capture the emitted waves, Hertz invented a resonator - a wire open ring, with the same brass balls as the "transmitter" at the ends and an adjustable distance between them. The scientist's devices surprise with their simplicity and seeming efficiency. By changing the size and position of the resonator, Hertz tuned it to the vibration frequency of the vibrator. Small sparks in the resonator jumped at the very moment when discharges appeared between the vibrator balls. The sparks were very weak, so they had to be observed in the dark.

In 1888, after a series of laborious experiments, Hertz experimentally proved the existence of electromagnetic waves predicted by Maxwell, propagating in space.
Hertz was the first person to consciously control electromagnetic waves, but he did not set himself the task of establishing wireless radio communications. However, Heinrich's experiments, which he described in detail in his scientific articles, interested physicists around the world. many scientists began to look for ways to improve the receiver and resonator of electromagnetic waves. The Hertz resonator was not a very sensitive device, and could pick up the electromagnetic waves emitted by the vibrator only within the room. But in the end, the discovery of the scientist led to the invention of the radiotelegraph, and then the radio.

photoelectric effect

To better see the spark during the experiment, Hertz placed the receiver in a darkened box. At the same time, he noticed that the length of the spark becomes smaller. Then Hertz conducted a series of experiments in this direction, in particular, he investigated the dependence of the spark length in the case when a screen of different materials is placed between the transmitter and receiver.

Hertz found that electromagnetic waves traveled through certain types of materials and were reflected by others, leading to the development of radar in the future. In addition, the scientist noticed that a charged capacitor loses its charge much faster when its plates are illuminated. ultraviolet radiation. A new discovery in physics was called the photoelectric effect, and theoretical background This phenomenon was given by Albert Einstein, who received the Nobel Prize for it in 1921.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz(German Heinrich Rudolf Hertz; February 22, 1857, Hamburg - January 1, 1894, Bonn) - German physicist. He graduated from the University of Berlin, where his teachers were Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff. From 1885 to 1889 he was professor of physics at the University of Karlsruhe. Since 1889 - professor of physics at the University of Bonn.

The main achievement is the experimental confirmation of the electromagnetic theory of light by James Maxwell. Hertz proved the existence of electromagnetic waves. He studied in detail the reflection, interference, diffraction and polarization of electromagnetic waves, proved that the speed of their propagation coincides with the speed of propagation of light, and that light is nothing but a variety of electromagnetic waves. He built the electrodynamics of moving bodies on the basis of the hypothesis that the ether is entrained by moving bodies. However, his theory of electrodynamics was not confirmed by experiments and later gave way to electronic theory Hendrik Lorenz. The results obtained by Hertz formed the basis for the creation of radio.

In 1886-87, Hertz first observed and described the external photoelectric effect. Hertz developed the theory of the resonant circuit, studied the properties of cathode rays, studied the influence ultraviolet rays to an electrical discharge. In a number of works on mechanics he gave the theory of impact elastic balls, calculated the impact time, etc. In the book "Principles of Mechanics" (1894) he concluded general theorems mechanics and its mathematical apparatus, based on a single principle (the principle of Hertz).

Since 1933, the hertz frequency unit has been named after Hertz, which is included in the international metric system SI units.

early years

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born on February 22, 1857 in Hamburg. His father, lawyer and 1887-1904 senator Gustav Ferdinand Hertz (1827-1914), was born under the name David Gustav Hertz into a very wealthy Jewish family, he was a prosperous businessman and a member of the city council of Hamburg in 1860-1862; his mother - Betty Augusta Oppenheim (1802-1872) - was the daughter of a major banker Solomon Oppenheim (1772-1828) from Cologne, the founder of the current bank Sal. Oppenheim. Both grandfather and father of Heinrich Hertz adopted Lutheranism.

Heinrich Hertz's mother, born Anna Elisabeth Pfefferkorn (1835-1910), was the daughter of Johannes Pfefferkorn (1793-1850), an army doctor from Frankfurt am Main, and Susanne Hadreuther (1797-1872). Heinrich had three younger brother and sister.

While studying at the gymnasium at the University of Hamburg, Heinrich Hertz showed an aptitude for the sciences, as well as for languages, having studied Arabic and Sanskrit. He studied science and technology in Dresden, Munich and Berlin, where he was a student of Kirchhoff and Helmholtz. In 1880, Hertz received his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin, and remained on post-doctoral studies under Helmholtz. In 1883 he became a lecturer theoretical physics at the University of Kiel, and in 1885 Hertz became full professor at the University of Karlsruhe, where he made his scientific discovery about the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Meteorology

Hertz always had a deep interest in meteorology, probably acquired as a result of his contacts with Wilhelm von Bezold (he was Hertz's professor of laboratory course at the Munich Polytechnic in the summer of 1878). Hertz, however, did not special contribution in given area, except for some early articles as an assistant to Helmholtz in Berlin. This includes the study of the evaporation of liquids, the development of a new type of hygrometer, and the development of graphical tools for determining the properties of moist air subjected to adiabatic changes.

Mechanics of contact interaction

In 1881-1882, Hertz published two papers on what later became known as mechanics. contact interaction. Although Hertz is famous for his contributions to electrodynamics, these two papers did not go unnoticed either. They have become a source important ideas, and most of the articles that deal with fundamental nature contacts, they are referred to. Joseph Boussinesq made several important criticisms on the works of Hertz, while recognizing their great importance.