Hertz, Heinrich Rudolf 1857-94
German physicist

Born in Hamburg, he was educated at the Johanneum Gymnasium before moving to Berlin where he studied under Gustav Kirchhoff and Hermann von Helmholtz, becoming the latter's assistant. In 1885 he was appointed Professor of Physics at Karlsruhe University, and in 1889 became professor at Bonn University. In 1887 Hertz confirmed James Clerk Maxwell's predictions by his fundamental discovery of 'Hertzian waves', now known as radio waves, which excepting wavelength, behave like light waves. Later he explored the general theoretical implications of Maxwell's electrodynamics, was widely honoured for his work on electric waves, and in 1890 he was awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society.