Heinrich Hertz
1857 – 1894
Generated and measured radio waves on a lab bench, proving Maxwell right.
In the late 1880s Hertz built apparatus that generated and detected electromagnetic waves, proving Maxwell's prediction that light and radio are the same phenomenon. He measured their wavelength and speed on a laboratory bench.
He died at 36, before he could see radio become an industry; the unit of frequency is his memorial. The wavelength, resonance, and antenna tools here all compute in the domain he opened.
Portrait: a stylized blueprint-line rendering, not a photograph.
Contributions in the toolbox
- 1887
Generates and measures radio waves — λf = c confirmed on a lab bench.
→ Frequency ⇄ Wavelength - 1887
Resonant circuits generate and detect radio waves.
→ LC Resonant Frequency - 1887
Measures EM oscillation periods experimentally.
→ Frequency ⇄ Period - 1887
The dipole — the first antenna.
→ Dipole / Whip Length - 1887
The dipole — radio's first and reference antenna.
→ ERP ⇄ EIRP