Max Planck: A delve into brilliance

1
Max Planck A delve into brilliance
Alex Currie
2
Introduction

• Physics, like all great achievements of mankind,
  was and is flowered only through the genius and
  eccentric nature of brilliant men. Every once in
  a while the world is graced with a special few to
  whom even the word genius cannot give proper
  credit. One such man is the German physicist,
  Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck. Born April 23,
  1858, in Kiel, Germany, Max flourished in the
  rich scientific institutions of his homeland.
  His life as been, unfortunately, notched not only
  with his amazing successes in the study of
  blackbody radiation and quantum mechanics, but
  with many personal losses as well.

3

• When asked why he chose the field of physics
  The outside world is something independent from
  man, something absolute, and the quest for the
  laws which apply to this absolute appeared to me
  as the most sublime scientific pursuit in life.

• So when did this compassion develop? It was
  near the 16th year of my life when I enrolled at
  the University of Munich.

4

• When you were instated at the University what was
  the general position regarding atomic emissions?
  The theory was that of a continuous flow of
  energy from the atom. Through my later
  experiments with objects that reflect less than
  two percent radiation, or blackbodies, I
  developed the idea of set bundles of energy
  emissions.

5

• Was there anyone who particularly inspired you?
  There was a teacher of mine, Kirchhoff. He was
  a good man and scientist, but as a teacher his
  speeches were rather dry and monotonous.

• When you received the chair of theoretical
  physics at Berlin, following Kirchhoffs death,
  how long did you hold that position? That would
  be until my retirement, thirty-eight years later.

6

• In your first few years at Berlin, why did you
  work so tirelessly in thermodynamics? I found
  in particularly interesting how energy was
  distributed according to the wavelength.

• Did you worry that publishing theories that
  denounced modern physics, would crush your
  reputation in the scientific community? I would
  hope that my colleagues would take any new
  theories seriously, regardless of the current
  beliefs.

7

• After you theory of quantized energy, many others
  followed suit, adding to the growing quantum
  theory. Did you ever resent these men for their
  successes where your research had ended? I,
  myself had doubts in the theory and so was very
  happy when I saw physicists such as Niels Bohr
  adding validity to quanta.

8

• What was your reaction when you received news
  that you were to be granted the Nobel Prize in
  Physics for 1918? I was flattered of course,
  but my interests were already turning from
  quantum research.

9

• You were also President of the Kaiser Wilhelm
  Gesellschaft research organization, were you not?
  Yes, and due to this hectic time I proceeded in
  very little actual research of my own.

• Following your groundbreaking work on quanta,
  what were you involved in? It would have been
  around that time when I was elected as the
  Secretary in two sections of the Prussian Academy
  of Sciences.

10

• Your staunch loyalty to your country has been
  well noted, even through the turbulent years of
  Nazism. What were your views on the current
  affairs at the time? I love Germany, and always
  will, but as a man governed by reason I cannot
  comprehend why men hate as they do.

• There have been reports that you, yourself, have
  lost loved ones to the horrors of war. Is there
  any truth to these allegations? Yes, my only
  son was executed during the War for plotting to
  assassinate Hitler.

11
Conclusion

• Those of us who do not have the rights to claim
  genius, find it hard to view such brilliant men
  as Einstein, Bohr, or Planck as mere men. When I
  remember my interview with Mr. Planck, I will not
  only think of his endless work with blackbody
  radiation, his Nobel Prize, or his theoretical
  quanta. I will remember the struggle of a man to
  achieve greatness in a war-torn land. This is
  the man whom lecture halls loved, not the dry
  know-it-all, but the warm, and very human Max
  Planck.