If Heinrich Hertz could witness today’s world, where billions of people carry mobile phones that rely on radio waves, he’d likely be astonished. His 19th-century experiments proved the existence of electromagnetic waves, but he saw no practical use for them. Now, those same waves power everything from smartphones and Wi-Fi to GPS and satellite communications.
In 1886, Hertz was focused purely on validating James Clerk Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism. He built devices to generate and detect radio waves, showing they could reflect, refract, and travel through space. When asked about the utility of his discovery, he famously replied, “Nothing, I guess.” His work was groundbreaking, but he didn’t foresee its technological revolution.
Ironically, Hertz’s name now lives on in every frequency we measure, megahertz, gigahertz, and beyond. His experiments laid the foundation for radio, television, radar, and mobile networks. Though he died young at 36, his legacy pulses through every wireless signal we use today. The man who saw “no use” would be surrounded by a world built on his invisible waves.
