Heinrich Hertz [Pioneers in CAS]

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz discovered in 1887 the electromagnetic waves experimentally. Independent of Oliver Heaviside and Josiah Willard Gibbs, he formulated Maxwell’s equations in the form known today. Therefore, Hertz became one of the founders of wireless communications although he never was interested in engineering aspects of his discovery. He was an eminent scientist who worked in many physical areas. Especially, he opened the door to the research of atomistic models of matter and the special relativity theory.