720 SKETCH OF HEINRICH HERTZ. 



iu cozy winter uiglits spent in leadiug Homer, the Germau classics, and 

 other books. 



In passing throngh the high school classes of his native city his 

 predilection for the study of natural science early asserted itself. 

 Whenever a new course of study began and a new text-book was put 

 into the hands of the class, the boy would devote every leisure moment 

 to the perusal of the volume, exi)erinientiug frequently with apparatus 

 made by himself, and never ceasing until he could tell his father, "I 

 have mastered that book." This statement always proved to be per 

 fectly correct. In spite of his decided gift for natural science, Hertz 

 chose as his vocation civil engineering. But when, after completing his 

 studies, he came to take the iirst steps toward the practical execution 

 of this design, he felt that his choice had been a mistake. His parents, 

 with a ready perception of the deeply rooted needs of his strong and 

 peculiar nature, whose desires they would not think of thwarting, 

 entered into his new idea, gave him their approval, and furnished him 

 with the necessary means. So he set out on anew course of studies in 

 mathematics and natural science. He gave himself up to this work 

 heart and soul, and for a number of years knew no other object in life 

 but unceasing and unrelenting hard work. He studied physics at 

 Munich and Uerlin, and enjoyed the warm regard of Professor Helm- 

 holtz. In 1880 he became his assistant, and at his instigation, in 1883 

 settled down as a " privatdocent," or professor without salary, at the 

 University of Kiel. It was from this time on that he made the science 

 of electricity the one great object of his researches, the main pursuit ot 

 Ms life. The first years were filled with investigations relating to 

 electric discharges, etc. He busied himself, above all, Avitli the new 

 conceptions of the inner mechanism of electric phenomena and of the 

 connection between these and the phenomena of light and of radiant 

 heat. These conceptions, originating with Faraday and Maxwell m 

 England and represented in Germany by llelmholtz, were now carried 

 forward by Professor Hertz. 



His reputation soon spread through his native country, and he was 

 in 1885 called to the Polytechnic School of Karlsruhe, which for vari- 

 ous reasons became very dear to him. One of its attractions was the 

 exceptionally fine and well endowed laboratory of the institution, 

 which furnished the most desirable facilities for unlimited experiment- 

 ing. At Karlsruhe Professor Hertz found a wife who was in every way 

 a lovely and graceful, devoted, and highly intellectual companion to hmi. 

 His life was from this time on divided between the pursuit of his main 

 object, the progress of science, and home happiness; both he and his 

 wife derived rare gratification from literature and tlie beauty of nature. 

 It was from Karlsruhe that he went to Heidelberg, there to enjoy the 

 proudest moment of his life, iu the year 1889, when, greeted with enthu- 

 siastic applause by most prominent scientists, he stood upon the [)lat- 

 foriu to tender an account of his researches and their results. Who 



