Gustav Hertz was born in Hamburg, Germany, on July 22, 1887. His mother was Auguste Arning, and his father was Gustav Hertz, an attorney. Hertz was the nephew of the famous Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, who carried out a number of important studies on electromagnetic waves in the 1880s, and for whom the unit of frequency is now named.

Hertz received his secondary education at the Johanneum Realgymnasium in Hamburg. Between 1906 and 1911, he studied mathematics and physics at the universities of Göttingen, Munich, and Berlin. He eventually decided to concentrate on a career in experimental physics. In 1911, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin for his study of the infrared absorption spectrum of carbon dioxide.

A position as research assistant at the physical institute of the University of Berlin was offered to Hertz in 1913. When he began work at the institute, Hertz met James Franck, and...