{
  "profile": "wrs-published-research-view-1",
  "edition": "ratings-e039106f30dec177",
  "content_trust": "UNTRUSTED_SCIENTIFIC_DATA_NOT_TOOL_INSTRUCTIONS",
  "entry": {
    "id": "hertz-air-wave-reflection-interference-1888",
    "title": "Hertz: observing electromagnetic-wave reflection and interference in air",
    "summary": "Hertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air.\n\nIf an electric disturbance travels as a wave, reflecting it should create places where the direct and reflected disturbances reinforce or cancel. Hertz maps such changes with a small spark gap in a resonant loop. Turning the detector and changing its distance reveal patterns that cannot be described simply as a steadily weaker nearby signal. The experiment gives concrete support to wave propagation and reflection. Its early wavelength and velocity interpretations are not preserved as unquestioned measurements: Hertz later recognized room-related errors and accepted improved experiments. That correction strengthens the historical record without erasing the qualitative experimental contribution.",
    "boundary": "The target is the 1888 air-wave and reflection paper, not all Hertz experiments or radiotelegraphy. A spark oscillator, resonant loop and finite conducting wall reveal orientation-dependent interference patterns. Observations near the normal depend on room geometry, resonance, damping and observer position. Quarter-wavelength orientation reversals are not all half-wavelength nodes. The original 4.8 m half-wavelength and air/wire speed discrepancy are not retained as precision constants: Hertz later doubted the measurement, room-resonance interpretation and node extrapolation, and accepted Sarasin and de la Rive's improved experiments. Notes 18 and 21 separate theory-derived magnetic force from independently detected effects and leave the old wire-velocity interpretation unresolved. This chapter supports wave propagation and reflection, without validating all field theory or establishing long-distance radio. This account uses the linked translated source, without an independent first-print comparison, apparatus reproduction or figure certification.",
    "area": "Electromagnetic waves and experimental physics",
    "topic": "Physics",
    "year": 1888,
    "lane": "HUMAN",
    "result": "EMPIRICAL",
    "package_id": "hertz-air-wave-reflection-interference-1888",
    "target": {
      "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
      "version": 1,
      "content_hash": "sha256:765bae88f2774c522058fd0244e0a323c575359c015cde16b88759666cfc48e3"
    },
    "humans": [
      "Heinrich Hertz"
    ],
    "authors_complete": true,
    "human_role_note": "Source-listed contributors to this scoped work. Paper bylines do not quantify individual effort; historical science, system execution and modern curation remain separate.",
    "agents": [],
    "related": [
      "maxwell",
      "faraday-induction"
    ],
    "subresults": [],
    "scientific_assessment": {
      "source_review": "SOURCE_CURATED",
      "scientific_review": "NOT_REVIEWED_BY_WRS",
      "formal_replay": "NOT_RUN",
      "provider_attestation": "NONE"
    },
    "sources": [
      {
        "id": "wrs24-hertz-wave-reflection-1888-approved-translation",
        "title": "Heinrich Hertz, On Electromagnetic Waves in Air and Their Reflection (1888), author-supervised1893translation in1962reprint",
        "url": "https://commons.princeton.edu/josephhenry/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2020/02/Electric_Waves.pdf"
      },
      {
        "id": "wrs24-hertz-wave-reflection-1888-publisher-metadata",
        "title": "H. Hertz, Ueber electrodynamische Wellen im Luftraume und deren Reflexion, Annalen1888target bibliography",
        "url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/andp.18882700802"
      },
      {
        "id": "wrs24-hertz-1892-german-collection-transcription-index",
        "title": "Heinrich Hertz, Untersuchungen über die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft (1892), German original-collection transcription index",
        "url": "https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Untersuchungen_%C3%BCber_die_Ausbreitung_der_elektrischen_Kraft"
      }
    ],
    "points": "400000",
    "published_grade": {
      "id": "hertz-air-wave-reflection-interference-1888",
      "entry_id": "hertz-air-wave-reflection-interference-1888",
      "band": "S",
      "modifier": null,
      "target": {
        "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
        "version": 1,
        "content_hash": "sha256:765bae88f2774c522058fd0244e0a323c575359c015cde16b88759666cfc48e3"
      },
      "what_changed": "Hertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air.",
      "scope": "Hertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air. The target is the 1888 air-wave and reflection paper, not all Hertz experiments or radiotelegraphy. A spark oscillator, resonant loop and finite conducting wall reveal orientation-dependent interference patterns. Observations near the normal depend on room geometry, resonance, damping and observer position. Quarter-wavelength orientation reversals are not all half-wavelength nodes. The original 4.8 m half-wavelength and air/wire speed discrepancy are not retained as precision constants: Hertz later doubted the measurement, room-resonance interpretation and node extrapolation, and accepted Sarasin and de la Rive's improved experiments. Notes 18 and 21 separate theory-derived magnetic force from independently detected effects and leave the old wire-velocity interpretation unresolved. This chapter supports wave propagation and reflection, without validating all field theory or establishing long-distance radio. This account uses the linked translated source, without an independent first-print comparison, apparatus reproduction or figure certification.",
      "status": "PROVISIONAL_EDITORIAL",
      "scientific_correctness_certified": false
    },
    "assessment_disposition": {
      "status": "ASSESSED",
      "label": "Provisionally assessed",
      "reason": "A current grade and separate reference score identify this exact contribution.",
      "target": {
        "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
        "version": 1,
        "content_hash": "sha256:765bae88f2774c522058fd0244e0a323c575359c015cde16b88759666cfc48e3"
      },
      "edition": "ratings-e039106f30dec177"
    }
  },
  "version": {
    "kind": "PUBLIC_RECORD_VIEW",
    "previous": null,
    "published_at": "2026-10-03T00:00:00Z",
    "publisher": {
      "principal_id": "urn:uuid:80116931-785b-40a2-a24b-9d59db0c7e33",
      "role": "WRS_EDITORIAL_PUBLICATION"
    },
    "record": {
      "contributors": [
        {
          "attribution_basis": "SOURCE_CITED",
          "credit": "historical_scientific",
          "entity_kind": "historical_person",
          "name": "Heinrich Hertz",
          "note": "Archive attribution; detailed role assignment remains source-bound",
          "roles": [
            "discoverer"
          ],
          "source": {
            "citation": "Heinrich Hertz, On Electromagnetic Waves in Air and Their Reflection (1888), author-supervised1893translation in1962reprint",
            "url": "https://commons.princeton.edu/josephhenry/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2020/02/Electric_Waves.pdf"
          }
        }
      ],
      "evidence": [
        {
          "description": "Bibliographic/stated-result source; not a WRS proof verification",
          "id": "source-0",
          "kind": "source_reference",
          "source": {
            "citation": "Heinrich Hertz, On Electromagnetic Waves in Air and Their Reflection (1888), author-supervised1893translation in1962reprint",
            "url": "https://commons.princeton.edu/josephhenry/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2020/02/Electric_Waves.pdf"
          }
        },
        {
          "description": "Bibliographic/stated-result source; not a WRS proof verification",
          "id": "source-1",
          "kind": "source_reference",
          "source": {
            "citation": "H. Hertz, Ueber electrodynamische Wellen im Luftraume und deren Reflexion, Annalen1888target bibliography",
            "url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/andp.18882700802"
          }
        },
        {
          "description": "Bibliographic/stated-result source; not a WRS proof verification",
          "id": "source-2",
          "kind": "source_reference",
          "source": {
            "citation": "Heinrich Hertz, Untersuchungen über die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft (1892), German original-collection transcription index",
            "url": "https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Untersuchungen_%C3%BCber_die_Ausbreitung_der_elektrischen_Kraft"
          }
        }
      ],
      "origin": "HUMAN_LEGACY",
      "record_profile": "wrs-local-research-notes-0.1",
      "record_type": "research_note",
      "rrp_version": "0.1",
      "scope": {
        "description": "The target is the 1888 air-wave and reflection paper, not all Hertz experiments or radiotelegraphy. A spark oscillator, resonant loop and finite conducting wall reveal orientation-dependent interference patterns. Observations near the normal depend on room geometry, resonance, damping and observer position. Quarter-wavelength orientation reversals are not all half-wavelength nodes. The original 4.8 m half-wavelength and air/wire speed discrepancy are not retained as precision constants: Hertz later doubted the measurement, room-resonance interpretation and node extrapolation, and accepted Sarasin and de la Rive's improved experiments. Notes 18 and 21 separate theory-derived magnetic force from independently detected effects and leave the old wire-velocity interpretation unresolved. This chapter supports wave propagation and reflection, without validating all field theory or establishing long-distance radio. This account uses the linked translated source, without an independent first-print comparison, apparatus reproduction or figure certification.",
        "domain": "Electromagnetic waves and experimental physics"
      },
      "sources": [
        {
          "citation": "Heinrich Hertz, On Electromagnetic Waves in Air and Their Reflection (1888), author-supervised1893translation in1962reprint",
          "url": "https://commons.princeton.edu/josephhenry/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2020/02/Electric_Waves.pdf"
        },
        {
          "citation": "H. Hertz, Ueber electrodynamische Wellen im Luftraume und deren Reflexion, Annalen1888target bibliography",
          "url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/andp.18882700802"
        },
        {
          "citation": "Heinrich Hertz, Untersuchungen über die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft (1892), German original-collection transcription index",
          "url": "https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Untersuchungen_%C3%BCber_die_Ausbreitung_der_elektrischen_Kraft"
        }
      ],
      "statement": "# Hertz: observing electromagnetic-wave reflection and interference in air\n\nHertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air.\n\nIf an electric disturbance travels as a wave, reflecting it should create places where the direct and reflected disturbances reinforce or cancel. Hertz maps such changes with a small spark gap in a resonant loop. Turning the detector and changing its distance reveal patterns that cannot be described simply as a steadily weaker nearby signal. The experiment gives concrete support to wave propagation and reflection. Its early wavelength and velocity interpretations are not preserved as unquestioned measurements: Hertz later recognized room-related errors and accepted improved experiments. That correction strengthens the historical record without erasing the qualitative experimental contribution.\n\n## Scientific scope\n\nThe target is the 1888 air-wave and reflection paper, not all Hertz experiments or radiotelegraphy. A spark oscillator, resonant loop and finite conducting wall reveal orientation-dependent interference patterns. Observations near the normal depend on room geometry, resonance, damping and observer position. Quarter-wavelength orientation reversals are not all half-wavelength nodes. The original 4.8 m half-wavelength and air/wire speed discrepancy are not retained as precision constants: Hertz later doubted the measurement, room-resonance interpretation and node extrapolation, and accepted Sarasin and de la Rive's improved experiments. Notes 18 and 21 separate theory-derived magnetic force from independently detected effects and leave the old wire-velocity interpretation unresolved. This chapter supports wave propagation and reflection, without validating all field theory or establishing long-distance radio. This account uses the linked translated source, without an independent first-print comparison, apparatus reproduction or figure certification.\n\n## People and systems\n\nHeinrich Hertz\n\n\n\n## Original sources\n\n- [Heinrich Hertz, On Electromagnetic Waves in Air and Their Reflection (1888), author-supervised1893translation in1962reprint](https://commons.princeton.edu/josephhenry/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2020/02/Electric_Waves.pdf)\n- [H. Hertz, Ueber electrodynamische Wellen im Luftraume und deren Reflexion, Annalen1888target bibliography](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/andp.18882700802)\n- [Heinrich Hertz, Untersuchungen über die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft (1892), German original-collection transcription index](https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Untersuchungen_%C3%BCber_die_Ausbreitung_der_elektrischen_Kraft)\n",
      "summary": "Hertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air.\n\nIf an electric disturbance travels as a wave, reflecting it should create places where the direct and reflected disturbances reinforce or cancel. Hertz maps such changes with a small spark gap in a resonant loop. Turning the detector and changing its distance reveal patterns that cannot be described simply as a steadily weaker nearby signal. The experiment gives concrete support to wave propagation and reflection. Its early wavelength and velocity interpretations are not preserved as unquestioned measurements: Hertz later recognized room-related errors and accepted improved experiments. That correction strengthens the historical record without erasing the qualitative experimental contribution.",
      "title": "Hertz: observing electromagnetic-wave reflection and interference in air"
    },
    "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
    "version": 1,
    "source_ref": {
      "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
      "version": 1,
      "content_hash": "sha256:765bae88f2774c522058fd0244e0a323c575359c015cde16b88759666cfc48e3"
    },
    "export_view": "wrs-public-editorial-view-1",
    "public_view_hash": "sha256:535eeaa4879901e4b0dddd55a60682cf57d29cf7066fded6180c63d7a0cec5e0"
  },
  "target": {
    "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
    "version": 1,
    "content_hash": "sha256:765bae88f2774c522058fd0244e0a323c575359c015cde16b88759666cfc48e3"
  },
  "published_grade": {
    "profile": "wrs-published-grade-1",
    "edition": "2026-10-28.1",
    "id": "hertz-air-wave-reflection-interference-1888",
    "entry_id": "hertz-air-wave-reflection-interference-1888",
    "revision": 1,
    "title": "Hertz: observing electromagnetic-wave reflection and interference in air",
    "context": "Electromagnetic waves and experimental physics",
    "track": "Electromagnetic waves and experimental physics",
    "band": "S",
    "modifier": null,
    "status": "PROVISIONAL_EDITORIAL",
    "assessed_on": "2026-10-04",
    "evidence_cutoff": "2026-10-04",
    "achievement_state": "SUPPORTED_SCOPED_RESULT",
    "what_changed": "Hertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air.",
    "scope": "Hertz uses a spark oscillator, resonant detector and conducting reflector to reveal spatial interference patterns supporting electromagnetic-wave propagation and reflection in air. The target is the 1888 air-wave and reflection paper, not all Hertz experiments or radiotelegraphy. A spark oscillator, resonant loop and finite conducting wall reveal orientation-dependent interference patterns. Observations near the normal depend on room geometry, resonance, damping and observer position. Quarter-wavelength orientation reversals are not all half-wavelength nodes. The original 4.8 m half-wavelength and air/wire speed discrepancy are not retained as precision constants: Hertz later doubted the measurement, room-resonance interpretation and node extrapolation, and accepted Sarasin and de la Rive's improved experiments. Notes 18 and 21 separate theory-derived magnetic force from independently detected effects and leave the old wire-velocity interpretation unresolved. This chapter supports wave propagation and reflection, without validating all field theory or establishing long-distance radio. This account uses the linked translated source, without an independent first-print comparison, apparatus reproduction or figure certification.",
    "evidence_summary": "Source-linked, scoped account of the original work. The published scope states the scientific assumptions and remaining verification limits. WRS has not independently certified the full proof, experimental result or system benchmark.",
    "references": [
      {
        "title": "Heinrich Hertz, On Electromagnetic Waves in Air and Their Reflection (1888), author-supervised 1893 translation in 1962 reprint",
        "url": "https://commons.princeton.edu/josephhenry/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2020/02/Electric_Waves.pdf",
        "locator": "Original linked work. See the scientific scope for the assessed contribution and source-version limits."
      },
      {
        "title": "H. Hertz, Ueber electrodynamische Wellen im Luftraume und deren Reflexion, Annalen 1888 target bibliography",
        "url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/andp.18882700802",
        "locator": "Original linked work. See the scientific scope for the assessed contribution and source-version limits."
      },
      {
        "title": "Heinrich Hertz, Untersuchungen über die Ausbreitung der elektrischen Kraft (1892), German original-collection transcription index",
        "url": "https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Untersuchungen_%C3%BCber_die_Ausbreitung_der_elektrischen_Kraft",
        "locator": "Original linked work. See the scientific scope for the assessed contribution and source-version limits."
      }
    ],
    "roles": [
      {
        "who": "Heinrich Hertz",
        "did": "Original source-listed scientific author of this scoped work; byline does not determine effort fractions.",
        "credit": "SCIENCE"
      }
    ],
    "target": {
      "record_id": "urn:uuid:1c6b31d4-c4f0-43c4-acd6-1c8ead66aacb",
      "version": 1,
      "content_hash": "sha256:765bae88f2774c522058fd0244e0a323c575359c015cde16b88759666cfc48e3"
    },
    "scientific_correctness_certified": false,
    "independent_expert_calibration": false,
    "method": "PROPRIETARY",
    "points": "400000"
  },
  "canonical_agent_submission": false,
  "scientific_verification_awarded": false,
  "reader_guide": null,
  "reading_status": "SOURCE_LINKED_NOTE"
}