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Heinrich Hertz Facts & Worksheets

Heinrich Hertz was a German physicist who proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves in James Clerk Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism.

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Heinrich Hertz was a German physicist who proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves in James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. The unit of frequency “Hertz” was named after him.

See the fact file below for more information on the Heinrich Hertz or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Heinrich Hertz worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION

  • Heinrich Rudolph Hertz was born on February 22, 1857 in Hamburg, Germany.
  • He was born to Gustav Ferdinand Hertz and Anna Elisabeth Pfefferkorn.
  • His father was born Jewish but converted to Christianity.
  • Heinrich and his siblings were raised as Christians.
  • Hertz was educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg, where he showed an aptitude for scientific subjects and foreign languages such as Arabic and Sanskrit.
  • He went on to study science and engineering in Berlin, Dresden, and Munich, under scientists Gustav R. Kirchhoff and Hermann von Helmholtz.
  • Hertz developed a deep interest in the same theories studied by Kirchhoff and Helmholtz.
  • Kirchoff studied theories in electrical circuits, radiation, and spectroscopy.
  • Helmholtz specialized in theories about sound, light, thermodynamics, and electrodynamics.
  • Hertz eventually focused on the fields of contact mechanics and electromagnetism.
  • In 1880, Hertz earned his PhD and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Berlin.

SCIENTIFIC WORK

  • From 1880 to 1883, Hertz served as Helmholtz’s assistant at the university.
  • In 1883, he began working as a lecturer in theoretical physics at the University of Kiel in Kiel, Germany.
  • That same year, he began studying the electromagnetic theory of physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell.
  • Maxwell’s equations describe the charges and currents generated by electric and magnetic fields.
  • Between 1879 and 1889, Hertz conducted a series of experiments using electrical and magnetic fields to produce waves, so as to prove Maxwell’s theory.
  • In 1885, Hertz took a post as a physics professor at the University of Karlsruhe.
  • Between 1885 and 1889, Hertz was able to produce electromagnetic waves and measure their length and velocity.
  • Although he was not the first to produce electromagnetic waves, Hertz was the first to understand the accurate nature of these waves: waves that move through air.
  • By demonstrating the nature of the waves’ vibration and their reflective and refractive characteristics, he was able to prove that light and heat are forms of electromagnetic radiation.
  • The electromagnetic waves were first called Hertzian waves, then later, they were called radio waves.
  • In 1887, Hertz also discovered the concept of photoelectric effect. This is the loss of an object’s electrical charge when light hits it.
  • Hertz was the one who described this phenomenon, but it was Albert Einstein who was able to explain why it occurred.
  • Hertz’s studies became the basis for quantum mechanics.
  • Electromagnetism is not the only field in which Hertz made significant contributions. He also produced the original paper on contact mechanics, simply known as the Hertzian contact theory.
  • Contact mechanics is the study of the deformation of solid objects that come in contact with each other.
  • Contact mechanics has become an extremely important field in mechanical engineering.
  • He published the paper “On the Contact of Elastic Solids” in 1882 to support this theory.
  • The stresses that the solids undergo upon contact is called Hertzian stress, which was named after him.
  • In 1889, Hertz was appointed as a physics professor at the University of Bonn and remained in that post until his death.
  • In 1892, Hertz began working with cathode rays together with his student Phillip Lenard.
  • He developed a type of cathode tube and studied the penetration by X-rays of different materials. He did not use actual X-rays but illustrated them through mathematical equations.

PERSONAL LIFE

  • In 1886, Hertz married Elisabeth Doll.
  • The couple had two daughters: Johanna (born in 1887) and Mathilde (born in 1891).
  • Despite being partly Jewish in ethnicity, Heinrich Hertz identified as a Lutheran throughout his life.

DEATH AND LEGACY

  • Hertz’s health started to deteriorate in 1892 when he was diagnosed with an infection.
  • At the age of 36, Hertz died of granulomatosis with polyangiitis in Bonn, Germany.
  • He was buried in the Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg, Germany.
  • Hertz worked on his scientific studies and lectured on theoretical physics until his death.
  • His scientific papers have been published in three volumes: Electric Waves (published in 1893), Miscellaneous Papers (published in 1896), and Principles of Mechanics (published in 1899).
  • In 1928, the Heinrich-Hertz Institute for Oscillation Research was founded in Berlin, Germany in his honor. The institute is now known as the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI.
  • In 1930, the SI unit for frequency Hertz (Hz) was established in his honor by the International Electrotechnical Commission.
  • A crater on the Moon is also named in his honor.

Heinrich Hertz Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Heinrich Hertz across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Heinrich Hertz worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Heinrich Hertz who was a German physicist who proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves in James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. The unit of frequency “Hertz” was named after him.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Heinrich Hertz Facts
  • Hertz in Squares
  • Sequence of Events
  • Vocabulary Review
  • Odd One Out
  • Scientific Illustration
  • Concise Explanation
  • Famous Physicists
  • A Plaque for Hertz
  • Traits of a Scientist
  • Life Applications

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Use With Any Curriculum

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