Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck
Biography
Max Planck was born in Kiel, Germany on April 23, 1858 and he died in Gottingen on October 4, 1947. Planck grew up wherever his father’s job was. Planck’s father was an important jurist and professor of law at the University of Kiel. At the age of 9, his father received a post at the University of Munich, and Planck went to Maximilian Gymnasium. As Planck’s family tradition was devotion to church and state, excellence in scholarship, and generosity it deeply affected his own life and work. Herman Muller, stimulated Max Planck’s interest in Physics and Mathematics. Planck excelled in all subjects and graduated at age 17. He faced a difficult career decision whether to go into the field of Physics or classical Philology, but he chose Physics. Not only did Planck love Physics but he also loved the outdoors. Taking long walks each day and hiking and climbing in the mountains on vacations, even at an old age. Returning to Munich, he received his doctoral degree on July 1879. Over the years Planck studied at the Universities of Munich and Berlin, where his teachers included Kirchkoff and Helmholtz. His intellectual capacities were, however, brought to a focus as the result of his independent study, especially of Rudolf Clausius’s writings on thermodynamics. Another mentor was Herman Muller, Planck’s teacher in Maximillian Gymnasium.
Analyzer
Max Planck can be appropriately be nicknamed the father of quantum physics; his works acted as catalysts for a scientific revolution which paved the way for other famous scientists such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Werner Heisenberg. Although he was not fully aware of it at the time, Planck began an entirely new era in the studies of physics. His theories suggested that energy does not flow continuously, but rather in ‘packets’ that he called quanta; this phenomenon provided a solution for many discrepancies in prior experiments of other scientists, as well as made huge advancements in the study radiation and atomic particles.
This theory quickly led to multiple new theories and experiments being performed all across the scientific world. For instance, the behavior of subatomic particles, string theory, the multiverse theory, and ionic chemistry can all be explained via Planck’s work, as well as Einstein’s explanation of the photoelectric effect; when light rays hit certain metals, they emit electrons, producing energy. This effect is the basis of how solar panels work, one of the newer and more important energy sources today in replacement of fossil fuels. Other inventions created based off Planck’s theory include the MRI, laser beams, the electron microscope, transistors, microchips, and the diode. Many of these are extremely important in modern society; for example, microchips, transistors, and diodes are the basis of modern electronic technologies such as computers.
Max Planck was an incredibly intelligent scientist; his quantum theory is still being implemented and heavily researched upon today. Among his other works in the fields of thermodynamics and radiation, this theory revolutionized the scientific world; anything before Planck in considered classic physics, while anything after him is considered modern physics. Furthermore, quantum theory has had enormous results in explaining many of the features of this world and the universe, and has produced hundreds of important inventions throughout the last century. Without even realizing it, Max Planck launched the world into a new scientific age, with technologies that are utilized nearly everywhere across the modern world.