Max karl planck

It's a Fact 
Max Planck had to endure suffering like no other modern scientist. His first wife died in 1909, and during 9/WI Planck's eldest son Karl was killed in action at Verdun. Both his daughters died white giving birth to children. His second son Erwin was taken prisoner by French during WWII and in 1944 was executed by Nazis because of his participation in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Planck was not Jewish but felt very disturbed with the atrocities committed against Jews by the Nazis. Planck thought it was the best thing to ignore these incidents and kept working on physics. It is said that Einstein never forgave Planck for not doing enough to counter Nazi activities in German universities.



Max karl planck
``````````(1858-1947)
~~~~~~Physicist Who Took the "Quantum Leap" 



Born: April 23, 1858 Kiel, Germany 
Died: October 4, 1947 (aged 89) Gottingen, Germany 
Residence: Germany 
Nationality: German 
Field: Physicist and scientific administration 
Institutions: University of Kiel Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen Kaiser-Wilhelm-GeselLschaft 
Alma mater: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen 
Academic advisor: Philipp von Jolly 
Notable students: Gustav Ludwig Hertz, Erich Kretschmann, Walther Meigner, Walter Schottky, Max von Laue, Max Abraham, Moritz Schlick, Walther Bothe 
Known for: Planck's constant quantum theory and black body radiation, plasma physics. 
Notable prizes: Nobel Prize in Physics (1918) 




Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist who discovered the Quantum Theory, one of the two greatest ideas of 20th century physics, the other being Einstein's relativity. Planck won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1918 for this discovery.


Quantum theory states that energy is emitted or absorbed in only discrete packets (that Planck called quanta) and not continuously as previously believed. Planck put forward his revolutionary idea in 1900. Few days before he put forward his revolutionary idea he took his son for a walk after lunch and told his son that he was writing a theory that is epoch making and compared it to Newton's groundbreaking work!!! 


Only a handful of fellow scientists like Einstein recognized the importance of quantum theory and Planck was one of the earliest supporters of Einstein's work. It should be noted that when the Nobel Prize for physics of 1921 was awarded to Einstein specially for applying quantum theory to explain the photo electric effect (which is the emission of electrons from the surface of a metal when light is shone on the surface of the metal). It is said that Planck made two major discoveries in his life time. The quanta of energy and ion Albert Einstein.


Planck started conceiving this revolutionary idea around 1894  when he turned his attention to the problem of Black-body radiation, where he was commissioned by Electric companies to look for ways to create the most light from light bulbs, using minimum energy. In order to explain the black body problem Wilhelm Wien put forward Wien's Law and Lord Raleigh and Sir James Jeans proposed Raleigh-Jeans law. But Wien' s law broke down at low temperatures and worked in high temperatures. Raleigh-Jeans law only worked at low temperatures and not in high temperatures. In a "quantum Leap" of reasoning Planck combined the above two laws and derived a formula now known as Planck's Radiation Formula in 1900. Within several weeks Planck made a complete reasoning of his formula which renounced classical physics and introduced the idea of the quanta of energy. Most physicists believe this was the start of modern theoretical physics.


In 1905 the three epochal papers of the hitherto unknown Albert Einstein were published in the journal Annalen der Physik. Planck was among the few who immediately recognized the significance of the special theory of relativity. Thanks to Planck's influence this theory was soon widely accepted in Germany. Planck also contributed considerably to extend the special theory of relativity into theoretical physics.

During the 1930's Planck was not involved with Nazis and witnessed the atrocities inflicted upon Jewish community by Nazis. Planck did not support this activities and distanced himself. Later Einstein accused him of being too soft on the Nazi activities. Even during the WWI he was not involved with the war activities and said that his job is to propagate knowledge, not war. 

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