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Hertz,
Heinrich Rudolf German physicist Born: Hamburg, Germany, February 22, 1857 Died: Bonn, Germany, January 1, 1894 | |||||||||
Avogadro Becquerel Bohr Doppler Einstein Geiger Heisenberg Hertz Kirchhoff Planck Roentgen Rutherford Schrodinger |
After beginning his studies in engineering, Hertz switched to physics, studying under Kirchhoff. At the University of Kiel in 1883, Hertz became interested in the equations that govern the electromagnetic field. He set up an oscillating electrical circuit with the circuits seperated by two metal balls with an air gap. He observed that each time the electrical potential reached a peak on one circuit, it sent a spark across the gap. Using calculations developed by Maxwell, he was able to determine the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation, based on the fact that light travels at 186,282 miles per second, giving a wavelength of 186 miles for an oscillation one-thousandth of a second in duration. He discovered that his wavelengths were in the order of one-millionth that of light, namely 66 cm. This discovery was put to practical use by Marconi, who called them radio waves, thereby creating a new means of communication called radio. In 1889 Hertz was appointed a professor of physics at the University of Bonn. There he worked on cathode rays. Unfortunately Hertz did not live to see the discovery of the electron by Thomson. He died of acute blood poisoning before his thirty-seventh birthday. | |||||||||
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