Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was born in Hamburg on February 22, 1857. He studied in Berlin under von Helmholtz, and became Professor of Physics at the Karlsruhe Polytechnic, and, later, at the University of Bonn.

His fame rests on his experimental proof of the electromagnetic nature of light. The SI unit of frequency, the hertz (Hz), is named after him.

He died in Bonn after a long illness on January 1, 1894.