Gustav Ludwig Hertz
German physicist
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“Gustav Ludwig Hertz.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/gustav-ludwig-hertz/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.
Gustav Ludwig Hertz. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/gustav-ludwig-hertz/
“Gustav Ludwig Hertz.” thisDay. Accessed November 3, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/gustav-ludwig-hertz/.
Who was Gustav Ludwig Hertz?
Gustav Ludwig Hertz (German: [ˈɡʊstaf ˈluːtvɪç ˈhɛʁts]; – 30 October 1975) was a German experimental physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with James Franck "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom." Gustav Ludwig Hertz was born in Hamburg, Germany, the son of Gustav Theodor Hertz, a lawyer, and Auguste Arning. He attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums before studying at the University of Göttingen (1906–1907), the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (1907–1908), and the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin (1908–1911). In 1913, Hertz was appointed Research Assistant at the Physics Institute of the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin. He received his Ph.D. in 1911 under Heinrich Rubens. The following year, Hertz, along with James Franck, performed an experiment on inelastic electron collisions in gases.
Historical significance
In 1925, Hertz and Franck were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their experiment. From 1914, Hertz served in the military during World War I. Gustav Ludwig Hertz was a German experimental physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with James Franck "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom.
Cite this page
“Gustav Ludwig Hertz.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/gustav-ludwig-hertz/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2026.
Gustav Ludwig Hertz. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/gustav-ludwig-hertz/
“Gustav Ludwig Hertz.” thisDay. Accessed November 3, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/gustav-ludwig-hertz/.