358 GREAT MEN OF SCIENCE 



until 1889, and carried out the greater part of his most im- 

 portant work. He then followed an invitation to Munich 

 (he had refused Kirchhoff's chair in Berlin^), and finally be- 

 came Stefan's successor in Vienna, in the year 1894. After 

 six years there he moved for two years to Leipzig, but re- 

 turned finally to Vienna, where the professorship had been 

 kept open for him. It appeared as if his birthplace was after 

 all the best for him and his family. Nevertheless, six years 

 later, at the age of sixty-two years, he put an end to his life 

 while on a journey. 



Among all the great men of science which we have con- 

 sidered he was thus the first who took so great a distaste to 

 life upon earth. Bodily suffering and periodic depression 

 could not have been the sole causes of this; many others had 

 already suffered from these complaints. We are here con- 

 fronted with something hidden in the very depths of human 

 development. In any case, Boltzmann was the last eminent 

 man of science in Germany who appeared in the circles of 

 physical congresses in order to give open expression to his 

 opinion, which had been formed in the spirit of the great 

 investigators of past times. This expression was often very 

 strong, but nevertheless always met with a certain sympa- 

 thetic reception. 



HEINRICH HERTZ 



i837-i8g4 



Hertz's confirmation of Maxwell's theory, as expressed in 

 the latter's equations, dealt with this theory at its central 

 point, namely the question of the existence or non-existence 



^ The offers in Berlin had been very attractive, but he did not feel com- 

 fortable there, for he liked to be free, and he had received a hint from a 

 very important feminine quarter that he did not know how to behave 

 properly at table. 



