Hertz, Carl Hellmuth (1920-1990), physicist, developer of ultrasound and the inkjet printer
C. H. Hertz’s father Gustav – Nobel laureate in physics in 1925. Gustav’s uncle Heinrich Hertz (1857-94) researched electromagnetism and gave the name to the frequency measurement Hertz. His research became the foundation of modern radio communication.
When Hellmuth was born, his father worked in Berlin. He then took a job at Philips in Eindhoven to become professor in Halle in 1925. In 1928 he was head of Physics at Charlottenburg University of Technology in Berlin. His research concerned different isotopes of neon. When Hitler rose to power in 1933, problems arose due to Gustav’s Jewish background which, among other things, meant that he was not allowed to lecture to Germans. In protest, he started working at Siemens Halske’s research department in Berlin, where he remained until 1945, allying himself with the Russians. In 1955 he became professor in Leipzig (GDR).
To Sweden after the war
Hellmuth Hertz entered the Technical University of Berlin in 1939 but was drafted into the military in 1940 and in 1941, was sent to Tunisia. In May, he became a French prisoner of war and eventually ended up in a camp in the United States. During his imprisonment, he managed to further pursue his studies. His main area of interest lay in experimental physics. Shortly after the war in 1946, he returned to Germany and then moved to Lund in April 1947, where he was received by physics professor Torsten Gustafson. This had been made possible by James Franck, who, before the war, had fled to the United States due to being Jewish. In 1925 he shared the Nobel Prize with Gustav Hertz.
Hellmuth enrolled at Lund University and immediately began in the Department of Physics where he was involved in its expansion phase around 1950. His doctoral dissertation came in 1955 and in 1963 his academic career was crowned by a professorship in electrical measurement technology at LTH (Lund University’s faculty of engineering and research).
Ultrasound diagnostics
Hellmuth Hertz’s greatest pioneering efforts in Lund are linked to the development of ultrasound diagnostics and the inkjet printer. The work with ultrasound for cardiac examinations began in 1953 when the first moving images were produced. However, ultrasound was not only confined to cardiology. In 1961, ultrasound was used to detect a pregnancy of twins. This meant that potentially dangerous X-ray examinations could now be avoided. In the medical field, the use of ultrasound has had revolutionary effects.
Inkjet printer
The development of the inkjet printer initially began when ECG values were given graphic form on paper. It all started when Hertz became professor at LTH where inkjet technology was being developed. Commercially, printing technology first evolved in the United States. Up until 2010, Hertz’s solution was considered to provide the highest print quality, but by then, Japanese competitors were developing devices at significantly lower cost. However, during the 1950’s and 1960’s, two fundamental technical innovations had been developed in Lund under the leadership of Hellmuth Hertz.
Text: Claes Wahlöö