Max Karl Ludwig Planck

(1858-1947)

Max Karl Planck was a German physicist and Nobel laureate, who was the originator of the
quantum theory. Planck was born in Kiel on April 23, 1858, and educated at the universities of
Munich and Berlin. He was appointed professor of physics at the University of Kiel in 1885, and
from 1889 until 1928 filled the same position at German physicist and Nobel laureate, who was
the originator of the quantum theory.
The Quantm theory is a theory based on using the concept of the quantum unit to describe the
dynamic properties of subatomic particles and the interactions of matter and radiation. The
foundation was laid by the German physicist Max Planck, who postulated in 1900 that energy
can be emitted or absorbed by matter only in small, discrete units called quanta. Also
fundamental to the development of quantum mechanics was the uncertainty principle, formulated
by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1927, which states that the position and
momentum of a subatomic particle cannot be specified simultaneously.
At the turn of the century, physicists did not yet clearly recognize that these and other
difficulties in physics were in any way related. The first development that led to the solution of
these difficulties was Planck's introduction of the concept of the quantum, as a result of physicists'
studies of blackbody radiation during the closing years of the 19th century. The term blackbody
refers to an ideal body or surface that absorbs all radiant energy without any reflection. A body at
a moderately high temperature a "red heat" gives off most of its radiation in the low frequency red
and infrared regions; a body at a higher temperature "white heat" gives off comparatively more
radiation in higher frequencies yellow, green, or blue. During the 1890s physicists conducted
detailed quantitative studies of these phenomena and expressed their results in a series of curves
or graphs. The classical, or prequantum, theory predicted an altogether different set of curves
from those actually observed. What Planck did was to devise a mathematical formula that
described the curves exactly; he then deduced a physical hypothesis that could explain the
formula. His hypothesis was that energy is radiated only in quanta of energy hu, where u is the
frequency and h is the quantum action, now known as Planck's constant.
Developing his quantum theory further, he discovered a universal constant of nature, which
came to be known as Planck's constant. Planck's law states that the energy of each quantum is
equal to the frequency of the radiation multiplied by the universal constant. His discoveries did
not, however, supersede the theory that radiation from light or matter is emitted in waves.
Physicists now believe that electromagnetic radiation combines the properties of both waves and
particles. Planck's discoveries, which were later verified by other scientists, were the basis of an
entirely new field of physics, known as quantum mechanics, and provided a foundation for
research in such fields as atomic energy.
Planck received many honors for his work, notably the 1918 Nobel Prize in physics. In 1930
Planck was elected president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science, the
leading association of German scientists, which was later renamed the Max Planck Society. He
endangered himself by openly criticizing the Nazi regime that came to power in Germany in 1933
and was forced out of the society, but became president again after World War II. He died at
Göttingen on October 4, 1947.