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. For this famous physicist put the receiver inside the 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 associated with the writing of a serious work “The principles of mechanics set forth in 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 relationship 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 back in student years. It was in Karlsruhe that the most fruitful scientific period Hertz, which, unfortunately, did not last long.

After his report on December 13, 1888 at the University of Berlin, Hertz became a popular and authoritative scientist, and electromagnetic waves began to be universally called "Hertz's 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

The electromagnetic theory of the English physicist 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 oscillatory 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 electrical 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 arose in the vibrator. 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 Hertzian 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 is one of the German scientists of the 19th century.

He became famous for his experimentally confirmed work on electromagnetic waves. He is considered one of the founders of electrodynamics.

early years

The future scientist was born on February 22, 1857 in a wealthy family of a lawyer in Hamburg. His father later became a senator and his mother was the daughter of an army doctor.

The boy had three brothers and a sister. Since childhood, he was the owner of a phenomenal memory, this allowed him to learn languages ​​​​without too much difficulty. At school, he showed an incredible interest in the sciences.

Except schoolwork he went to craft circles, such as carpentry and locksmiths. He reached high results in both areas of his hobbies. During these years, he begins to design his first inventions.

In Dresden and then in Munich, Heinrich entered the Polytechnic to study engineering. But he does not stop there, having finished this educational institution he decides to move on. By writing a letter to his parents about his decision to become a scientist.

They supported their son, and soon he leaves the city and moves to Berlin for further education.

Scientific works of Hertz

All my not long, but interesting life Heinrich dedicated to science. He showed interest in:

• meteorology;
• mechanics contact interaction;
• electromagnetic waves.

He also discovered the external photoelectric effect. Hertz did not make a special contribution to meteorology, but he had a deep interest in this topic. He became interested in her as a result of communication with his professor from the Polytechnic in Munich. Wrote a number of articles when I was an assistant.

Within two years, from 1881 to 1882, Hertz published two papers on what would soon be called "contact mechanics". They turned out to be very useful and brought the first rays of glory to the scientist. The first noticed flaws in the articles of Joseph Boussinesq, thereby proving their importance. They described the behavior of two asymmetric objects in contact under pressure.

In the period from 1885 to 1889, Heinrich conducts experiments that brought him fame. He proved the existence of electromagnetic waves. He investigated: the speed of their propagation, reflection and refraction.

Awards

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was awarded a medal Metteuchi by the Italian Society of Sciences in 1889. Paris Academy of Sciences and Vienna imperial academy thanked him for his work with the Lacaze and Baumgartner awards. Later, he was awarded the Rumfoord medal, at the Royal Academy in Turin in 1891, Hertz was awarded the Bress Prize.

He was also awarded the Prussian Order of the Crown and the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure.

Death of a scientist

The great scientist lived a commendable but short life. After several surgeries in an attempt to cure the patient, Hertz died of Wegener's granulomatosis. For 36 years of his life, he made many useful discoveries that help modern man. He was buried in Hamburg.

Heritage

On December 18, 1897, one of the first words broadcast on the radio was "Heinrich Hertz". The International Electrotechnical Commission has decided to call the unit of measurement of the number of cycles per second - Hertz (Hz), listed in the C system. There is also a medal in honor of the scientist. In honor of Hertz, a crater is named, located in the east with reverse side moon.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz(German Heinrich Rudolf Hertz; February 22, 1857, Hamburg - January 1, 1894, Bonn) - German physicist. Graduated Berlin University, 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.

Main achievement - experimental confirmation electromagnetic theory 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 on the 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 contact mechanics. 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.

(1857-1894) German physicist, one of the founders of electrodynamics

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born on February 22, 1857 in the family of a Hamburg lawyer who later became a senator. Already in early years he showed brilliant abilities in the most diverse fields of knowledge and was an unusually quick-witted student. Heinrich Hertz studied physics and Arabic with the same interest and success, had good craft skills, loved to work on a lathe and write poetry. Unfortunately, Hertz was hampered by poor health throughout his life.

In 1875, after graduating classical gymnasium, deciding to become an engineer, G. Hertz entered the Dresden, and then the Munich Higher Technical School. Throughout his life he was extremely modest in assessing his abilities and achievements, and at first he even believed that science was not his lot and in best case he can become an engineer. In the Higher technical school in Munich, the affairs of Heinrich Hertz were going well while they were studying general subjects, but as soon as specialization began, he changed his mind. Interest in science takes its toll. Hertz rushes to scientific work and enters the Berlin University in the Department of Physics, where he begins to study physics under the guidance of the largest German physicist of that time, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand Helmholtz (1821 - 1894).

Hertz s great desire aspires to classes in physical laboratories, in which only students involved in solving competitive problems were allowed. Helmholtz proposed to Hertz a problem from the most intricate field of electrodynamics and was not mistaken in the abilities of the young scientist. This task was solved by him in 3 months, and not in 9, for which her decision was calculated. When working on this problem, the traits of a researcher inherent in Hertz were revealed: rare diligence, great perseverance and skill as an experimenter, especially since he himself made and debugged devices. The work of the young physicist was awarded the prize.

In 1879, at the age of 22, Heinrich Hertz successfully defended his dissertation under the supervision of Helmholtz, and he was awarded the degree of doctor "cum laude" - an extremely rare phenomenon, especially for students. In 1880 he graduated from the university and became his teacher's assistant. From 1883 to 1885, Hertz, on the recommendation of Helmholtz, headed the department of theoretical physics in the provincial city of Kiel. In 1885, he accepts an invitation from the Higher technical school in Karlsruhe and becomes its professor. In Karlsruhe, Hertz begins his experiments but tests the theory of electricity proposed by English physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879).

He carefully studied everything that was known by that time about electrical vibrations both theoretically and experimentally. To conduct experiments, it was necessary to create a generator of electrical oscillations high frequency. In 1887, in his work “On very fast electrical oscillations”, G. Hertz proposed a successful design of a generator called the Hertz vibrator, and a method for detecting electromagnetic oscillations using resonance - Hertzian resonator. Thus, the scientist first developed the theory of an open vibrator that emits electromagnetic waves in space.

After conducting numerous experiments with various mutual positions of the vibrator and resonator, Hertz came to the conclusion that there are electromagnetic waves propagating from final speed, equal speed Sveta. The properties of electromagnetic waves were experimentally discovered: reflection, refraction, interference and polarization. The scientist proved that both electromagnetic waves and light waves(light) - phenomena of the same nature and differ only in wavelength. Hertz outlined all his conclusions in the work "On Rays electrical force”, published in December 1888, which is considered the year of the discovery of electromagnetic waves and experimental confirmation Maxwell's theories.

Heinrich Hertz reported the results of his experiments in 1888 to the Berlin Academy of Sciences. After these brilliant studies, it became clear that the basis of electrodynamics should be Maxwell's theory, expressing the complete relationship between electrical and magnetic phenomena.

But the best proof of the truth of Maxwell's theory was not only experiments, but also practical implementation. scientific ideas. Not even ten years have passed since the experiments of Hertz, as the electromagnetic waves discovered by him experimentally began to be applied in practice. It is interesting to note that Hertz himself did not represent practical significance radio waves discovered by him and even wrote a letter to the Dresden Chamber of Commerce stating that the study of radio waves should be stopped as useless. What Heinrich Hertz failed to understand was fully appreciated by the Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov (1859-1906), who was the first in the world to use electromagnetic waves for radio communication and thereby founded modern radio physics. And it is no coincidence that the first words transmitted by him over the first wireless communication on March 24, 1896 at a distance of 250 meters were “Heinrich Hertz”.

During the manufacture of his vibrator, Hertz observed an external photoelectric effect in 1887, noting that the electrical discharge between two electrodes was stronger when the electrodes were illuminated with ultraviolet light.

In 1889, Hertz moved to Bonn, where he headed the Department of Physics at the University of Bonn. In 1891 he summarized all his experimental studies in the field of electrodynamics in a large article "Research on the propagation of electric force."

Hertz's hard work took its toll on his already poor health. He lost his sight and hearing, after which a general blood poisoning began. On January 1, 1894, at the age of 37, the famous scientist died suddenly.

He completed a huge work begun by the English physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867), whose ideas James Maxwell transformed into mathematical images, and he into electromagnetic waves, which became him eternal monument. It is no coincidence that the unit of oscillation frequency was named after him. Almost all areas of modern physics arose from Hertz's work.

Hermann Helmholtz called Hertz the most talented of his students and wrote the following about him: short life a harvest of almost unexpected fruits, which many of his most gifted colleagues have sought in vain for the past century. In the old, classical time, they would say that he fell victim to the gods.