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  2. Planck's quantization of energy is described by the his famous equation: \[ E=h \nu \label{Eq1.2.1} \] where the proportionality constant \(h\) is called Planck’s constant , one of the most accurately known fundamental constants in science

  3. This theory, which created the branch of physics called quantum mechanics, speculated that the energy radiated by the blackbody could exist only in specific numerical, or quantum, states. This theory is described by the equation E = n h f, E = n h f, where n is any nonnegative integer (0, 1, 2, 3, …) and h is Planck’s constant, given by h ...

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    • Early life

    Max Planck attended Munich’s Maximilian Gymnasium, where he became interested in physics and mathematics. He entered the University of Munich in the fall of 1874 and spent a year at the University of Berlin (1877–78). He received his doctoral degree in July 1879 at the unusually young age of 21. 

    What were Max Planck’s contributions?

    Max Planck was a German theoretical physicist who discovered the quantum of action, now known as Planck’s constant, h, in 1900. This work laid the foundation for quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1918.

    Why is Max Planck significant?

    Max Planck made many contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame rests primarily on his role as an originator of quantum theory. This theory revolutionized our understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. What’s more, Planck was the first prominent physicist to champion Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity (1905).

    Max Planck (born April 23, 1858, Kiel, Schleswig [Germany]—died October 4, 1947, Göttingen, Germany) German theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1918.

    Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was the sixth child of a distinguished jurist and professor of law at the University of Kiel. The long family tradition of devotion to church and state, excellence in scholarship, incorruptibility, conservatism, idealism, reliability, and generosity became deeply ingrained in Planck’s own life and work. When Planck was nine years old, his father received an appointment at the University of Munich, and Planck entered the city’s renowned Maximilian Gymnasium, where a teacher, Hermann Müller, stimulated his interest in physics and mathematics. But Planck excelled in all subjects, and after graduation at age 17 he faced a difficult career decision. He ultimately chose physics over classical philology or music because he had dispassionately reached the conclusion that it was in physics that his greatest originality lay. Music, nonetheless, remained an integral part of his life. He possessed the gift of absolute pitch and was an excellent pianist who daily found serenity and delight at the keyboard, enjoying especially the works of Schubert and Brahms. He also loved the outdoors, taking long walks each day and hiking and climbing in the mountains on vacations, even in advanced old age.

    Planck entered the University of Munich in the fall of 1874 but found little encouragement there from physics professor Philipp von Jolly. During a year spent at the University of Berlin (1877–78), he was unimpressed by the lectures of Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, despite their eminence as research scientists. His intellectual capacities were, however, brought to a focus as the result of his independent study, especially of Rudolf Clausius’s writings on thermodynamics. Returning to Munich, he received his doctoral degree in July 1879 (the year of Einstein’s birth) at the unusually young age of 21. The following year he completed his Habilitationsschrift (qualifying dissertation) at Munich and became a Privatdozent (lecturer). In 1885, with the help of his father’s professional connections, he was appointed ausserordentlicher Professor (associate professor) at the University of Kiel. In 1889, after the death of Kirchhoff, Planck received an appointment to the University of Berlin, where he came to venerate Helmholtz as a mentor and colleague. In 1892 he was promoted to ordentlicher Professor (full professor). He had only nine doctoral students altogether, but his Berlin lectures on all branches of theoretical physics went through many editions and exerted great influence. He remained in Berlin for the rest of his active life.

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    Planck recalled that his “original decision to devote myself to science was a direct result of the discovery…that the laws of human reasoning coincide with the laws governing the sequences of the impressions we receive from the world about us; that, therefore, pure reasoning can enable man to gain an insight into the mechanism of the [world]….” He deliberately decided, in other words, to become a theoretical physicist at a time when theoretical physics was not yet recognized as a discipline in its own right. But he went further: he concluded that the existence of physical laws presupposes that the “outside world is something independent from man, something absolute, and the quest for the laws which apply to this absolute appeared…as the most sublime scientific pursuit in life.”

    The first instance of an absolute in nature that impressed Planck deeply, even as a Gymnasium student, was the law of the conservation of energy, the first law of thermodynamics. Later, during his university years, he became equally convinced that the entropy law, the second law of thermodynamics, was also an absolute law of nature. The second law became the subject of his doctoral dissertation at Munich, and it lay at the core of the researches that led him to discover the quantum of action, now known as Planck’s constant h, in 1900.

  4. Jun 21, 2020 · Born in April of 1858, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck ( quite the name) was a theoretical physicist who was the originator of quantum theory, which, as we’ve discussed, afforded him the Nobel...

  5. Apr 15, 2018 · Max Planck Formulates Quantum Theory. Max Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize for his noted physics researches. In 1900, German theoretical physicist Max Planck revolutionized the field of physics by discovering that energy does not flow evenly but is instead released in discrete packets.

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