Max Planck
1858–1947, Kiel, Germany, Göttingen, Germany
German physicist who initiated quantum theory by explaining blackbody radiation.
To explain the blackbody radiation spectrum (a problem classical physics utterly failed at, called the 'ultraviolet catastrophe'), in 1900 Planck made the bold hypothesis that radiant energy could only be emitted or absorbed in discrete 'packets' , with a new constant — Planck's constant. He initially regarded this as merely a mathematical trick, but it launched the entire quantum revolution of the 20th century.
Nobel-winning work
Planck received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics (awarded 1919) 'for his advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta'. In 1900, to fit the measured blackbody spectrum, he proposed that oscillators exchange energy only in quanta E = hν, with h = 6.55×10⁻³⁴ J·s (Planck's constant). This hypothesis, which he first regarded as a formal device, became the founding postulate of quantum theory.
Workplaces: Humboldt University of Berlin
Germany