Hans Martin Hertz, born 22 August 1955, is a Swedish

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and professor at

KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a Public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in Institute of technology, engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest te ...

Biography

Hertz was born in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

, Sweden, to

Carl Hellmuth Hertz Carl Hellmuth Hertz (also written Carl Helmut Hertz, 15 October 1920 – 29 April 1990) was a German physicist known primarily for being involved in the development of inkjet technology and ultrasound technology. He was the son of Gustav Ludwig ...

and his wife Birgit Nordbring. He is the grandson of Gustav Ludwig Hertz and the great great nephew of

Heinrich Hertz Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (; ; 22 February 1857 – 1 January 1894) was a German physicist who first conclusively proved the existence of the electromagnetic waves predicted by James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. Biography Heinri ...

. His father was a professor in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

and his mother was a professor in microbial ecology. Hertz studied

Engineering physics Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medic ...

and received his doctorate in

Atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

from

1988. After a postdoc at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

he returned to Lund to create his own research group. In 1997 Hertz was appointed professor in biomedical physics at

in Stockholm. Between December 2013 and June 2018 he was Chair of the Board of

MAX IV MAX IV is a synchrotron light source facility in Lund, Sweden, in the northeastern quarter Brunnshög as part of an innovation district including ESS and Science Village. MAX IV uses synchrotron light to examine materials at the micrometre and nan ...

, the first 4th generation synchrotron in the world. Hertz was elected member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

in 2007 and the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (, IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promotes contact and exchange between business, ...

in 2008. In 2016, he was nominated to the prestigious

Polhem Prize The Polhem Prize (''Polhemspriset'') is a Swedish award for a high-level technological innovation or an ingenious solution to a technical problem. The innovation must be available and shown competitive on the open market. The prize is awarded by Sw ...

together with his former doctoral student Oscar Hemberg for their invention of Liquid-metal-jet sources.

Research

Hertz has worked on cell manipulation with ultrasound, development of laboratory sources for

Soft x-ray microscopy An X-ray microscope uses electromagnetic radiation in the soft X-ray band to produce images of very small objects. Unlike visible light, X-rays do not reflect or refract easily, and they are invisible to the human eye. Therefore, the basic proces ...

, and X-ray microfocus sources. The last research topic evolved into the Liquid-metal-jet source which is an order of magnitude brighter than conventional X-ray tubes. This is useful in techniques such as

Phase-contrast X-ray imaging Phase-contrast X-ray imaging or phase-sensitive X-ray imaging is a general term for different technical methods that use information concerning changes in the phase of an X-ray beam that passes through an object in order to create its images. Sta ...

, Small-angle X-ray scattering, and

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hertz, Hans Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology People from Lund 1955 births Swedish physicists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences Living people