By Annika Davuluri
Early Life
Born in Kiel, Germany, on this day in 1858 (23rd April), Max Planck came from a strong academic background, with his father being a law professor. At the young age of nine, his father noticed his academic excellence, and enrolled him into the University of Munich. He studied under the program for academically gifted students, Maximilian Gymnasium. Here, he crossed paths with his teacher and inspiration, the mathematician Herman Muller. Credit must be given to him, as he encouraged and enabled Planck to work hard in extra classes for math and physics, which indeed honed his skills to what they would become.
A Man of many Talents
A lesser known fact about Planck, was that he was seriously debating his career; as he was unable to pick between physics and music. When he was only 17, he had already developed the skill of perfect pitch and harmony. He was an extremely talented musician, but after much debate, he took up physics. Lucky for the world, because his findings certainly could not have been done without.
The Travel Years
During his educational tenure, Planck jumped between universities quite a bit. He didn’t find the University of Munich to be up to his standards, and thus spent a trial year at the University of Berlin. He was disappointed with the academics here as well, and decided to return to Munich to complete his PhD, which he acquired in the year of 1879, ironically the same year Albert Einstein was born. However, he hit a rough patch, as he worked an unpaid professor job at the University of Munich shortly after receiving his doctorate. He struggled for money and lived with his parents for a while.
His Stellar Theories
With great zeal and determination, Planck powered through his struggles. Working closely in the field of thermodynamics, Planck devoted his career to studying blackbodies, which was a term earlier coined by the eminent scientist, Kirchhoff. In simple terms, blackbodies are bodies that absorb all wavelengths of energy on the spectrum. His study led to his discovery of blackbody radiation, the thermal radiation emitted when a blackbody acquires a constant state (equilibrium). During his study, Planck hit several roadblocks. During his derivation of the amount of energy radiated by a blackbody, his theories weren’t matching the experimental values. In low frequency regions, the math worked out perfectly, but in the function of high frequencies, the energy released was derived as infinite. Obviously, a blackbody, or any body, cannot emit infinite radiation, so this was a concerning setback for the physicist.
In the depths of confusion emerged the birth of the theory of quanta. Bodies will emit energy in “packets” of specific values, and can emit no more or no less at a time. This value came to be known as the genius Planck constant, which is the basis of modern quantum mechanics.
Planck never intended to form a fundamental law of physics. His theories weren’t celebrated when he proposed them, and he never even intended to lay the groundwork for a whole new branch of physics. He sought to maintain the roots of his study in the realm of classical physics, but how different it turned out! Quantum physics was never intended to be the failure of classical physics, and Planck was determined to unite the two.
At the turn of the century in 1899, he used fundamental constants like G (gravity), h (Planck’s constant) and c (the speed of light) to propose the theory of the smallest meaningful length- The Planck Length! For all practical purposes, the distance between two particles simply cannot be lower than this value! Isn’t it fascinating?
Contributions and Recognition
Max Planck has contributed to several other areas that are hidden in the shadows behind his major achievements. In fact, he helped popularise the word “theory” to describe Einstein’s work in Relativity, prior to that Einstein would call it the “relativity principle”. In this way, he was among Einstein’s earliest supporters, even before the world knew and revered him.
He went on to win the well-deserved Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918, to quote, "in recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of Physics by his discovery of energy quanta."
Max Planck was certainly a mind not to be ignored. He laid the foundation for the Quantum Theory we all know and love today, and has indeed received the accolades he deserved. On his birth anniversary, we should all take a moment to cherish and commend the work of this pioneer in science.
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Astronomically amazing!