Can “Hence” be used like conjunction?

Question

Now I am writing a scientific paper. My professor wrote this sentence at first:

Due to its ~ characteristics, microwave energy promotes ~ (list of advantages), hence the properties of ~ can be enhanced through microwave irradiation.

As far as I know, however, "hence" is not a conjunction, so it cannot bring a clause after it like above sentence. So, I tried to correct the sentence like this:

Due to its ~ characteristics, microwave energy promotes ~, hence the enhancement of the properties of ~.

However, I was able to find a lot of sentences using "hence" like conjunction in google search and even in this site. So, here is a question:

• Can "hence" be used like conjunction as it used in the first sentence? (even though it is incorrect grammatically, is it used in this way commonly?)

• If not, does my correction make sense?

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Hence, like therefore, can be used as a conjunctive adverb or adverbial conjunction. Though some frown on the use of conjunctive adverbs and others consider their punctuation problematic, they are used in colloquial English. However, the example you provide might be better with a semicolon, rather than full-stop (period), before hence.