From gas absorption to electron impact
Hertz studied in Göttingen, Munich and Berlin, initially investigating infrared absorption by carbon dioxide. He began electron-impact studies with Franck in 1913. Their 1914 experiments revealed specific energy transfers in inelastic electron–atom collisions rather than an unrestricted continuous exchange.
Universities and industrial laboratories
The First World War interrupted his work. He subsequently researched at Philips in Eindhoven, became a professor in Halle in 1925 and moved to the technological university in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1928. In 1935 he left that post and directed a Siemens research laboratory.
References: [1]
Isotopes and later work
Hertz developed a diffusion-cascade method for separating neon isotopes. From 1945 to 1954 he headed a laboratory in the Soviet Union, then became professor and director of a physics institute in Leipzig. His career combined atomic-energy measurements with separation and instrumentation methods.
References: [1]