Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) studied engineering, mathematics and physics in Dresden, Munich and Berlin. He originally wanted to become a civil engineer - instead he became one of the most important founders of modern electricity theory. Hertz was a student of Hermann L. F. von Helmholtz (1821-1894) and as early as 1880, he presented highly regarded studies on elasticity, evaporation and Maxwell's electrodynamics.
In 1885, he was appointed full professor of physics at the Technical University of Karlsruhe (today's KIT). Here, in 1888/1889, he experimentally proved the correctness of Maxwell's theory by successfully generating, transmitting and at the same time detecting electromagnetic waves of higher frequency. He demonstrated their refraction, polarization, reflection and transversality and determined their speed.
Hertz thus became the pacemaker of high-frequency technology and today's communications technology. In 1889, he accepted an appointment at the University of Bonn, where he became a full professor of physics. His “Principles of Metaphysics”, published posthumously in 1894, became a classic of epistemology. Heinrich Hertz died at the age of just 36, probably the most important physicist of the late 19th century. The unit of measurement for frequency (the Hertz, Hz) is named in his honor.
EN 
DE