Max Planck
German theoretical physicist
1858 CE to 1947 CE
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS (April 23, 1858 –October 4, 1947) is a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta wins him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck makes many contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame as a physicist rests primarily on his role as the originator of quantum theory, which revolutionized human understanding of atomic and subatomic processes.
In 1948, the German scientific institution the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (of which Planck is twice president) is renamed the Max Planck Society (MPS).
The MPS now includeseighty-three institutions representing a wide range of scientific directions.
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Max Planck begins teaching at the University of Berlin, moving from Kiel in 1889.
Quantum physics is born on December 14, 1900, with Max Planck's announcement of the quantum theory.
Having discovered that at long wavelengths blackbody radiation does not conform to the distribution laws set forth by Wilhelm Wien, Planck announces his revolutionary idea that an oscillator can emit energy only in discrete quanta, contrary to classical physical theory.
Planck had discovered the law of black-body radiation (Planck's law) on October 19, 1900, by introducing the notion of light quanta, which will lead in 1905 to Albert Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect and beginning the Quantum Revolution.