Good point. Actually it’s singular, so why don’t we say “440 hertzes”?
Who’s Dick Hertz?
Oh, and in regard to who (Heinrich) Hertz was and why he is sufficinetly notable to have a unit of measurement named after him: he essentially laid the experimental groundwork (including modifying Maxwell’s equations) for modern electrodynamics and the photoelectic effect, giving the way forward for both special relativity and quantum mechanics. He also did work in continuum mechanics and tribology on contact stresses that every mechanical designer and stress analyst is familiar with (Hertzian stresses).
Stranger
Aside:
Is it just me, or do many names give sort of sound right for what they stand for? Like an onamonapia for units. Unless I’m just used to them, but I find many units named after people to sound right.
Volt, totally sounds electric.
Amp, reminds me of amplify. Perfect.
Newtons, it even has the word “ton” in it.
Even Fahrenheit and Celsius sounds temperature related.
Hertz, ohms, joules, roentgens, watts, tesla, etc. I think we’re lucky their last names wasn’t something like “Gryzbowski”.
Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s just a lifetime of association and conditioning?
It’s also plural.
Product Developer: We need a name for our new electronic gadget.
Marketting Guy: Yeah, something high-tech. How about some astronomical term coupled with some electronics term.
[enters this into term-randomizing computer (TRC)]
TRC: Hertz-Uranus
I recently worked with a grad student named “Stalnaker”. Everyone agreed that he needed to get a unit named after him, probably something electrical. Field, maybe? I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten a name to stick to “newtons per coulomb”.
He studied tribbles? Sounds like trouble.
He should make sure to define the base unit as something really small, so that everyone has to refer to “mega-stalkers”
Sorry about mho. Little knowledge is dangerous. I learned of it through Finnegans Wake. Be prepared for obligatory. Be prepared… Also something on Hertz, now that I think of it. His whole head, particularly his ear, as a Universal broadcasting apparatus…
“Well, there’s yer problem, I’m picking up over 200,000 stalnakes.”
Besides, since he’s German, wouldn’t it be “hertzen”?
I nominate “stalnaker” to be defined as a furlong/fortnight.
“Officer, I’m sure I was under the 167 kilostalnaker speed limit”
And even more importantly, why?
Tangent, that was masterful, right down to the italics. Legit LOL!