Standardization of Hertz

    Drawing from Scottish physicist, James Clerk Maxwell’s groundbreaking theory of electromagnetism, the first person who provided conclusive proof of electromagnetic radio waves was Heinrich Rudolf Hertz in the late 1860s. What was then termed, “Maxwell waves,” we now effectively refer to the sound frequencies that hit our ears in cycles per second as, “Hertz.

       While cycles per second were first accurately measured in 1834, Hertz, as a term, wasn’t officially adopted until 1960, a century after the scientist, himself, proved the electromagnetic nature of sound frequencies.

       Thanks to his predecessor, Maxwell’s efforts, we have been able to discover profound depths to musical calculations, patterns and their impending significance to all life forms. Even engineer and inventor, Nikola Tesla said that Maxwell’selegant differential equations are as poetry. To this day, we continue to test his insights using modern technologies, whilesome of which, we nearly lost as a result thereof.

       This leads us to the evermore pertinent discovery of the Schumann Resonance, measuring the number of oscillations at which the earth, itself, resonates, yielding a relatively consistent 7.8Hz.

       You may recall from earlier, that this value is situated at the top most cusp where theta brain waves transition to alpha, indicating a state of relaxation with slight awareness. This frequency, when rounded up to 8Hz, vibrates harmoniously with 432Hz. In reference to French physicist, Joseph Sauveur’s calculations, 432 lies within a spectrum of frequencies that we call the A note, the same note orchestras use to tune their instruments; the same note, we currently tune to 440Hz. While music is now subsequently — and for the most part in the western world — standardized, the extent to which the A note varied in vibration value throughout historical Europe, is evidenced by the many values for A in tuning forks dating back to the 1600s.

       We’ve come a long way when it comes to measuring sound. But, where did it all begin? And why have we been tuning our A’s to 440Hz?