Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857)

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz ( HURTS; German: [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈhɛʁts]; 22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. The unit of frequency, cycle per second, was named the "hertz" in his honor.