Max Planck short biography. Nobel laureates: Max Planck. The most constant of physicists Max Planck personal life

German physicist Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was born in Kiel (which then belonged to Prussia), in the family of Johann Julius Wilhelm von Planck, professor of civil law, and Emma (nee Patzig) Planck. As a child, the boy learned to play the piano and organ, discovering extraordinary musical abilities. In 1867, the family moved to Munich, and there P. entered the Royal Maximilian Classical Gymnasium, where an excellent mathematics teacher first aroused his interest in the natural and exact sciences. After graduating from high school in 1874, he was going to study classical philology, tried his hand at musical composition, but then gave preference to physics.

For three years P. studied mathematics and physics at the University of Munich and a year at the University of Berlin. One of his professors in Munich, experimental physicist Philipp von Jolly, turned out to be a bad prophet when he advised young P. to choose another profession, since, according to him, there was nothing fundamentally new left in physics that could be discovered. This point of view, widespread at that time, arose under the influence of the extraordinary successes of scientists in the 19th century. have achieved in increasing our knowledge of physical and chemical processes.

While in Berlin, P. acquired a broader view of physics thanks to the publications of outstanding physicists Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff, as well as articles by Rudolf Clausius. Familiarity with their works contributed to the fact that P.’s scientific interests focused for a long time on thermodynamics - a field of physics in which the phenomena of heat are studied on the basis of a small number of fundamental laws, mechanical energy and energy conversion. P. received his academic degree as a doctor in 1879, having defended a dissertation at the University of Munich on the second law of thermodynamics, which states that no continuous self-sustaining process can transfer heat from a colder body to a warmer one.

The next year, P. wrote another work on thermodynamics, which brought him the position of junior assistant at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Munich. In 1885 he became an associate professor at the University of Kiel, which strengthened his independence, strengthened his financial position and provided more time for scientific research. P.'s works on thermodynamics and its applications to physical chemistry and electrochemistry earned him international recognition. In 1888, he became an associate professor at the University of Berlin and director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics (the post of director was created specifically for him). He became a full (full) professor in 1892.

Since 1896, P. became interested in measurements made at the State Institute of Physics and Technology in Berlin, as well as in the problems of thermal radiation of bodies. Any body containing heat emits electromagnetic radiation. If the body is hot enough, then this radiation becomes visible. As the temperature rises, the body first becomes red-hot, then orange-yellow, and finally white. Radiation emits a mixture of frequencies (in the visible range, the frequency of radiation corresponds to color). However, the radiation of a body depends not only on temperature, but also to some extent on surface characteristics such as color and structure.

Physicists have adopted an imaginary absolute black body as an ideal standard for measurement and theoretical research. By definition, a completely black body is a body that absorbs all radiation incident on it and does not reflect anything. The radiation emitted by a black body depends only on its temperature. Although such an ideal body does not exist, a closed shell with a small opening (for example, a properly constructed oven whose walls and contents are in equilibrium at the same temperature) can serve as an approximation.

One of the proofs of the black-body characteristics of such a shell comes down to the following. Radiation incident on the hole enters the cavity and, reflecting from the walls, is partially reflected and partially absorbed. Since the probability that the radiation will come out through the hole as a result of numerous reflections is very small, it is almost completely absorbed. The radiation originating in the cavity and emerging from the hole is generally considered to be equivalent to the radiation emitted by a hole-sized area on the surface of a black body at the temperature of the cavity and shell. Preparing his own research, P. read Kirchhoff's work on the properties of such a shell with a hole. An accurate quantitative description of the observed distribution of radiation energy in this case is called the black body problem.

As blackbody experiments have shown, a graph of energy (brightness) versus frequency or wavelength is a characteristic curve. At low frequencies (long wavelengths), it is pressed against the frequency axis, then at some intermediate frequency it reaches a maximum (a peak with a rounded top), and then at higher frequencies (short wavelengths) it decreases. As the temperature increases, the curve retains its shape, but shifts toward higher frequencies. Empirical relationships have been established between temperature and the frequency of the peak in the black body radiation curve (Wien's displacement law, named after Wilhelm Wien) and between temperature and the total radiated energy (Stefan–Boltzmann law, named after the Austrian physicists Joseph Stefan and Ludwig Boltzmann ), but no one was able to derive the black body radiation curve from the first principles known at the time.

Wien managed to obtain a semi-empirical formula that can be adjusted so that it describes the curve well at high frequencies, but incorrectly conveys its behavior at low frequencies. J. W. Strett (Lord Rayleigh) and the English physicist James Jeans applied the principle of equal distribution of energy among the frequencies of oscillators contained in the space of a black body, and came to another formula (the Rayleigh-Jeans formula). It reproduced the black body radiation curve well at low frequencies, but diverged from it at high frequencies.

P., under the influence of James Clerk Maxwell's theory of the electromagnetic nature of light (published in 1873 and confirmed experimentally by Heinrich Hertz in 1887), approached the black body problem from the point of view of the distribution of energy between elementary electrical oscillators, physical form which are not specified in any way. Although at first glance it may seem that the method he chose resembles the Rayleigh-Jeans conclusion, P. rejected some of the assumptions accepted by these scientists.

In 1900, after long and persistent attempts to create a theory that would satisfactorily explain the experimental data, P. managed to derive a formula that, as experimental physicists from the State Institute of Physics and Technology discovered, agreed with the measurement results with remarkable accuracy. Wien's and Stefan-Boltzmann's laws also followed from Planck's formula. However, to derive his formula, he had to introduce a radical concept that went against all established principles. The energy of Planck oscillators does not change continuously, as would follow from traditional physics, but can only take discrete values, increasing (or decreasing) in finite steps. Each energy step is equal to a certain constant (now called Planck's constant) multiplied by the frequency. Discrete portions of energy were subsequently called quanta. The hypothesis introduced by P. marked the birth of quantum theory, which accomplished a true revolution in physics. Classical physics, as opposed to modern physics, now means “physics before Planck.”

P. was by no means a revolutionary, and neither he himself nor other physicists were aware of the deep meaning of the concept of “quantum”. For P., the quantum was just a means that made it possible to derive a formula that gave satisfactory agreement with the radiation curve of an absolutely black body. He repeatedly tried to reach agreement within the classical tradition, but without success. At the same time, he noted with pleasure the first successes of quantum theory, which followed almost immediately. His new theory included, in addition to Planck's constant, other fundamental quantities, such as the speed of light and a number known as Boltzmann's constant. In 1901, based on experimental data on black body radiation, P. calculated the value of Boltzmann's constant and, using other known information, obtained Avogadro's number (the number of atoms in one mole of an element). Based on Avogadro's number, P. was able to find the electric charge of an electron with remarkable accuracy.

The position of quantum theory was strengthened in 1905, when Albert Einstein used the concept of photon - quantum electromagnetic radiation– to explain the photoelectric effect (the emission of electrons by a metal surface illuminated by ultraviolet radiation). Einstein suggested that light has a dual nature: it can behave both as a wave (as all previous physics convinces us of) and as a particle (as evidenced by the photoelectric effect). In 1907, Einstein further strengthened the position of quantum theory by using the concept of quantum to explain the puzzling discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of the specific heat capacity of bodies - the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one unit of mass of a solid by one degree.

Another confirmation of the potential power of the innovation introduced by P. came in 1913 from Niels Bohr, who applied quantum theory to the structure of the atom. In Bohr's model, electrons in an atom could only be at certain energy levels determined by quantum limitations. The transition of electrons from one level to another is accompanied by the release of an energy difference in the form of a photon of radiation with a frequency equal to the photon energy divided by Planck's constant. Thus, a quantum explanation was obtained for the characteristic spectra of radiation emitted by excited atoms.

In 1919 P. was awarded Nobel Prize in physics for 1918 “in recognition of his services to the development of physics through the discovery of energy quanta.” As stated by A.G. Ekstrand, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, at the award ceremony, “P.’s theory of radiation is the brightest of the guiding stars of modern physical research, and, as far as one can judge, it will still be a long time before the treasures that were obtained by his genius are exhausted.” . In the Nobel lecture given in 1920, P. summed up his work and admitted that “the introduction of quantum has not yet led to the creation of a true quantum theory.”

20s witnessed the development by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, P.A.M. Dirac and others quantum mechanics– equipped with the complex mathematical apparatus of quantum theory. P. did not like the new probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, and, like Einstein, he tried to reconcile predictions based only on the principle of probability with classical ideas of causality. His aspirations were not destined to come true: the probabilistic approach survived.

P.'s contribution to modern physics is not limited to the discovery of the quantum and the constant that now bears his name. He was strongly impressed by Einstein's special theory of relativity, published in 1905. The full support provided by P. to the new theory greatly contributed to the acceptance of the special theory of relativity by physicists. Among his other achievements is his proposed derivation of the Fokker-Planck equation, which describes the behavior of a system of particles under the influence of small random impulses (Adrian Fokker is a Dutch physicist who improved the method first used by Einstein to describe Brownian motion - the chaotic zigzag movement of tiny particles suspended in a liquid ). In 1928, at the age of seventy, Planck entered into mandatory formal retirement, but did not break ties with the Society basic sciences Kaiser Wilhelm, whose president he became in 1930. And on the threshold of the eighth decade, he continued his research activities.

P.'s personal life was marked by tragedy. His first wife, née Maria Merck, whom he married in 1885 and who bore him two sons and two twin daughters, died in 1909. Two years later he married his niece Marga von Hesslin, with whom he he also had a son. P.'s eldest son died in the first world war, and in subsequent years both of his daughters died in childbirth. The second son from his first marriage was executed in 1944 for his participation in a failed plot against Hitler.

As a person of established views and religious beliefs, and simply as a fair person, P., after Hitler came to power in 1933, publicly spoke out in defense of Jewish scientists expelled from their posts and forced to emigrate. At a scientific conference he greeted Einstein, who was anathema by the Nazis. When P., as president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Basic Sciences, paid an official visit to Hitler, he took this opportunity to try to stop the persecution of Jewish scientists. In response, Hitler launched into a tirade against Jews in general. Subsequently, P. became more reserved and remained silent, although the Nazis undoubtedly knew about his views.

As a patriot who loves his homeland, he could only pray that German nation regained her normal life. He continued to serve in various German learned societies in the hope of saving at least some small part of German science and enlightenment from complete destruction. After his home and personal library were destroyed during an air raid on Berlin, P. and his wife tried to find refuge on the Rogetz estate near Magdeburg, where they found themselves between the retreating German troops and the advancing Allied forces. In the end, the Planck couple were discovered by American units and taken to the then safe state of Göttingen.

P. died in Göttingen on October 4, 1947, six months before his 90th birthday. Only his first and last name and the numerical value of Planck's constant are engraved on his tombstone.

Like Bohr and Einstein, P. was deeply interested philosophical problems related to causation, ethics, and free will, and has spoken on these topics in print and to professional and lay audiences. Acting as a pastor (but without priesthood) in Berlin, P. was deeply convinced that science complements religion and teaches truthfulness and respect.

Throughout his life, P. carried with him the love of music that flared up in him in early childhood. An excellent pianist, he often played chamber works with his friend Einstein until he left Germany. P. was also a keen mountaineer and spent almost every holiday in the Alps.

In addition to the Nobel Prize, P. was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London (1928) and the Goethe Prize of Frankfurt am Main (1946). The German Physical Society named its highest award in honor of him, the Planck Medal, and P. himself was the first recipient of this honorary award. In honor of his 80th birthday, one of the minor planets was named Planckian, and after the end of the Second World War, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Basic Sciences was renamed the Max Planck Society. P. was a member of the German and Austrian Academies of Sciences, as well as scientific societies and academies in England, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Soviet Union, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States.

PLANK, MAX(Planck, Max) (1858–1947), German theoretical physicist, founder of quantum theory. Born April 23, 1858 in Kiel. He studied at the Universities of Munich and Berlin, at the latter he attended a course of lectures by physicists Helmholtz and Kirchhoff and mathematician Weierstrass. At the same time, he carefully studied the works on thermodynamics of Clausius, which largely determined the direction of Planck’s research in these years. In 1879 he became a Doctor of Philosophy, submitting a dissertation for defense On the second law of mechanical heat. In his dissertation work considered the issue of the irreversibility of the heat conduction process and gave the first general formulation of the law of increasing entropy. A year after his defense, he received the right to teach theoretical physics and taught this course at the University of Munich for five years. In 1885 he became professor of theoretical physics at Kiel University. His most significant publication during this period was the book Energy conservation principle, who received a prize at the competition of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Göttingen. In 1889 Planck was invited to the University of Berlin to the position of extraordinary professor, and three years later he was appointed ordinary professor. In the first years of his stay in Berlin, he studied the theory of heat, electro- and thermochemistry, equilibrium in gases and dilute solutions.

In 1896 Planck began his classical research in the field of thermal radiation. Having set about solving the problem of energy distribution in the radiation spectrum of a black body, in 1900 he derived a semi-empirical formula, which at high temperatures and long wavelengths satisfactorily described the experimental data of Kurlbaum and Rubens, and at short waves and low temperatures turned into Wien's law. In the process of theoretically substantiating his formula, Planck came to a stunning conclusion: he discovered that the equation is valid only under one completely new concept, namely: during radiation, energy is not emitted or absorbed continuously and not in any quantities, but only in indivisible portions - “quanta” . In this case, the energy of the quantum is proportional to the oscillation frequency and the new fundamental constant, which has the dimension of action. This fundamental constant is now called Planck's constant. The day December 14, 1900, when Planck reported to the German Physical Society on the theoretical derivation of the law of radiation, became the date of birth of quantum theory and a new era in natural science. However, the theory proposed by Planck as a substantiation of the formula he derived did not attract the attention of scientists until 1905, when A. Einstein used the revolutionary idea of ​​quanta, extending it to the radiation process itself and predicting the existence of the photon. In 1918 Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his theory. The scientist himself, at the end of his life, admitted that for many years in a row he tried to “somehow integrate the quantum of action into the system of classical physics,” but he failed.

Planck's work on the theory of relativity was of great importance. In 1906, he derived the equations of relativistic dynamics, obtaining expressions for the energy and momentum of the electron.

In 1926, Planck left his post at the University of Berlin (where E. Schrödinger became his successor), but continued to actively participate in his scientific life, and also gave public lectures on physics. In 1912–1938 he was permanent secretary of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, and for a long time was president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (since 1948 – Max Planck Society). Obligated by his position to pay his respects to Hitler, he had a conversation with him in 1933, which he tried to use to prevent the mass dismissal of Jewish scientists.

During World War II, Planck suffered many hardships. Last years his life was overshadowed by the death of his son, executed for participation in the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. Planck died in Göttingen on October 4, 1947.

Among the numerous works of the scientist - Lectures on the theory of thermal radiation (Vorlesungen über die Theorie der Warmestrahlung, 1906), Introduction to Theoretical Physics (Einführung in die theoretische Physik, Bd. 1–5, 1916–1930), Paths of physical knowledge (Wege zur physikalischen Erkenntnis, 1933).

Max Planck (1858-1947).

German physicist Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was born on April 23, 1858 in the Prussian city of Kiel, in the family of Johann Julius Wilhelm von Planck, a professor of civil law, and Emma (nee Patzig) Planck. As a child, the boy learned to play the piano and organ, revealing extraordinary musical abilities. In 1867, the family moved to Munich, and there Planck entered the Royal Maximilian Classical Gymnasium, where an excellent mathematics teacher first aroused his interest in the natural and exact sciences. Upon graduating from high school in 1874, he initially intended to study classical philology, tried his hand at musical composition, but then gave preference to physics.

For three years Planck studied mathematics and physics at the University of Munich and a year at the University of Berlin. One of his professors in Munich, the experimental physicist Philipp von Jolly, turned out to be a bad prophet when he advised the young Planck to choose another profession, since, according to him, there was nothing fundamentally new in physics that could be discovered. This view, widespread at the time, was influenced by the extraordinary successes that scientists in the 19th century achieved in increasing our knowledge of physical and chemical processes.

While in Berlin, Planck acquired a broader view of physics thanks to the publications of the outstanding physicists Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff, as well as the articles of Rudolf Clausius. Familiarity with their works contributed to the fact that Planck's scientific interests focused for a long time on thermodynamics - a field of physics in which the phenomena of heat, mechanical energy and energy conversion are studied on the basis of a small number of fundamental laws.

Planck received his doctorate in 1879, having defended his thesis at the University of Munich “On the second law of the mechanical theory of heat” - the second law of thermodynamics, which states that no continuous self-sustaining process can transfer heat from a colder body to a warmer one. A year later, he defended his dissertation “Equilibrium State of Isotropic Bodies at Different Temperatures,” which earned him the position of junior assistant at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Munich.

In 1885 he became an associate professor at the University of Kiel, which strengthened his independence, strengthened his financial position and provided more time for scientific research. Planck's work on thermodynamics and its applications to physical chemistry and electrochemistry earned him international recognition. In 1888, he became an associate professor at the University of Berlin and director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics (the post of director was created specifically for him).

While working as an assistant professor at the University of Munich, Planck began compiling a course of lectures on theoretical physics. But until 1897 he could not begin to publish his lectures. In 1887, he wrote a competitive essay for a prize from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Göttingen. For this essay, Planck received a prize, and the work itself, containing a historical and methodological analysis of the law of conservation of energy, was republished five times, from 1887 to 1924. During the same time, Planck published a number of works on the thermodynamics of physical and chemical processes. The theory he created became especially famous. chemical equilibrium diluted solutions. In 1897, the first edition of his lectures on thermodynamics was published. This classic book has been reprinted several times (the last edition was published in 1922) and translated into foreign languages, including into Russian. By that time, Planck was already an ordinary professor at the University of Berlin and a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

Since 1896, Planck became interested in measurements carried out at the State Institute of Physics and Technology in Berlin, as well as in the problems of thermal radiation of bodies. While conducting his research, Planck drew attention to new physical laws. Based on experiment, he established the law of thermal radiation of a heated body. At the same time, he was faced with the fact that the radiation is discontinuous. Planck was able to substantiate his law only with the help of the remarkable assumption that the energy of vibration of atoms is not arbitrary, but can only take on a number of well-defined values. Later studies completely confirmed this assumption. It turned out that discontinuity is inherent in any radiation, that light consists of individual portions (quanta) of energy.

Planck established that light with a vibration frequency must be emitted and absorbed in portions, and the energy of each such portion is equal to the vibration frequency multiplied by a special constant, called Planck's constant.

On December 14, 1900, Planck reported to the Berlin Physical Society about his hypothesis and new formula for radiation. The hypothesis introduced by Planck marked the birth of quantum theory, which made a true revolution in physics. Classical physics, in contrast to modern physics, now means “physics before Planck.”

In 1906, Planck's monograph "Lectures on the Theory of Thermal Radiation" was published. It was reprinted several times. The Russian translation of the book entitled “The Theory of Thermal Radiation” was published in 1935.

His new theory included, in addition to Planck's constant, other fundamental quantities such as the speed of light and a number known as Boltzmann's constant. In 1901, based on experimental data on black body radiation, Planck calculated the value of Boltzmann's constant and, using other known information, obtained Avogadro's number (the number of atoms in one mole of an element). Based on Avogadro's number, Planck was able to find the electric charge of an electron with the highest accuracy.

Planck was by no means a revolutionary, and neither he himself nor other physicists were aware of the deep meaning of the concept of “quantum”. For Planck, the quantum was just a means that made it possible to derive a formula that gave satisfactory agreement with the black body radiation curve. He repeatedly tried to reach agreement within the classical tradition, but without success. At the same time, he noted with pleasure the first successes of quantum theory, which followed almost immediately.

The position of quantum theory was strengthened in 1905, when Albert Einstein used the concept of a photon - a quantum of electromagnetic radiation. Einstein proposed that light has a dual nature: it can behave both as a wave and as a particle. In 1907, Einstein further strengthened the position of quantum theory by using the concept of quantum to explain the mysterious discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of the specific heat capacity of bodies. Further confirmation of the potential power of Planck's innovation came in 1913 from Niels Bohr, who applied quantum theory to the structure of the atom.

At the same time, Planck's personal life was marked by tragedy. His first wife, née Maria Merck, whom he married in 1885 and who bore him two sons and two twin daughters, died in 1909. Two years later he married his niece Marga von Hesslin, with whom he also had a son. During the First World War, one of his sons died near Verdun, and in subsequent years both of his daughters died in childbirth.

In 1919, Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1918 "in recognition of his services to the development of physics through the discovery of energy quanta." As A. G. Ekstrand, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said at the award ceremony, “Planck’s theory of radiation is the brightest of the guiding stars of modern physical research, and, as far as one can judge, it will still be a long time before the treasures that were obtained by his genius." In his Nobel lecture given in 1920, Planck summed up his work and admitted that “the introduction of the quantum has not yet led to the creation of a true quantum theory.”

In the twenties, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Dirac and others developed quantum mechanics. Planck did not like the new probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, and, like Einstein, he tried to reconcile predictions based only on the principle of probability with classical ideas of causality. His aspirations were not destined to come true: the probabilistic approach survived.

Planck's contribution to modern physics does not end with the discovery of the quantum and the constant that now bears his name. He was deeply impressed by Einstein's theory of special relativity, published in 1905. Planck's full support for the new theory greatly contributed to the acceptance of the special theory of relativity by physicists. Among his other achievements is his proposed derivation of the Fokker-Planck equation, which describes the behavior of a system of particles under the influence of small random impulses.

In 1928, at the age of seventy, Planck entered into his mandatory formal retirement, but did not break ties with the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Basic Sciences, of which he became president in 1930. And on the threshold of the eighth decade, he continued his research activities.

As a man of established views and religious convictions, and simply as a fair person, Planck, after Hitler came to power in 1933, publicly spoke out in defense of Jewish scientists expelled from their posts and forced to emigrate. At a scientific conference he greeted Einstein, who was anathema by the Nazis. When Planck, as president of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Basic Science, paid an official visit to Hitler, he took the opportunity to try to stop the persecution of Jewish scientists. In response, Hitler launched into a tirade against Jews in general. Subsequently, Planck became more reserved and remained silent, although the Nazis undoubtedly knew about his views. As a patriot who loved his homeland, he could only pray that the German nation would regain its normal life. He continued to serve in various German learned societies in the hope of preserving at least some small part of German science and enlightenment from complete destruction.

Planck was in for a new shock. The second son from his first marriage was executed in 1944 for his participation in a failed plot against Hitler. After his home and personal library were destroyed in an air raid on Berlin, Planck and his wife sought refuge on the Rogetz estate near Magdeburg, where they found themselves caught between retreating German troops and advancing Allied forces. In the end, the Planck couple were discovered by American units and taken to the then safe state of Göttingen.

Planck was deeply interested in philosophical issues related to causation, ethics, and free will, and spoke on these topics in print and to professional and lay audiences. A pastor (but not a priest) in Berlin, Planck was deeply convinced that science complemented religion and taught truthfulness and respect.

Planck believed in reality outside world and in the power of the mind. This is important to note because it is very important stage His activities took place in a climate of crisis in physics. However, the materialistically minded Planck firmly opposed the fashionable positivist hobbies of Mach and Ostwald. “He was a typical German in the best sense of the word,” writes George Paget Thomson, a prominent physicist, son of J. J. Thomson, in his book. “Honest, pedantic, self-respecting, apparently quite firm, but in favorable conditions, capable of throwing off all stiffness and turning into a charming person."

Throughout his life, Planck carried his love of music: an excellent pianist, he often played chamber works with his friend Einstein until he left Germany. Planck was also a keen mountaineer and spent almost every holiday in the Alps.

Planck was a member of the German and Austrian Academies of Sciences, as well as scientific societies and academies in England, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, the Soviet Union, Sweden and the United States. The German Physical Society named its highest award in his honor, the Planck Medal, and the scientist himself became the first recipient of this honorary award. In honor of his eightieth birthday, one of the minor planets was named Planckian, and after the end of World War II, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Basic Sciences was renamed the Max Planck Society.

Planck died in Göttingen on October 4, 1947, six months before his ninetieth birthday. Only his first and last name and the numerical value of Planck's constant are engraved on his tombstone.

Max Planck short biography German physicist is presented in this article.

Max Planck short biography

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was born in April 23, 1858 in the town of Kilev. His father was a professor of civil law. From a very young age, the boy began to show extraordinary musical abilities, learning to play the piano and organ.

In 1867 his family moved to live in Munich. Here Max Planck entered the Royal Classical Gymnasium, where he developed an interest in the natural and exact sciences.

In 1874, Planck was faced with a choice - to continue his musical studies or to study physics. He preferred the latter. Max began to study physics and mathematics at the Universities of Berlin and Munich, deepening his knowledge of quantum theory, thermodynamics, probability theory, the theory of thermal radiation, history and methodology of physics.

In 1900, a young scientist formulated the law of energy distribution in the spectrum of a black body, introducing a constant with a functional dimension. Max Planck's formula immediately received experimental confirmation. It was a sensation in science. He created the so-called Planck constant or quantum of action - this is one of the universal constants in physics. And the date is December 14, 1900, the day when Max Planck presented a report to the German Physical Society about theoretical foundations the law of radiation, became the date of birth of the new quantum theory.

Planck's research on probability theory was also of great importance. The German scientist was one of the first to understand it and persistently supported it. That's it scientific achievements continue - in 1906, Max Planck derived an equation for relativistic dynamics, obtaining in the course of his research formulas for determining the momentum and energy of the electron. Thus, scientists completed the relativization of classical mechanics.

In 1919, Max Planck received the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1918. The list of his achievements included the following - “as a sign of the weight of his merits in the development of physics through the discovery of energy quanta.”

Despite great achievements in science, Planck's personal life was very tragic. His first wife died early, leaving him with 4 children - two daughters and two sons. He married a second time and the scientist’s fifth child was born – a boy. His eldest son died during the First World War, and his two daughters died during childbirth. His second son was executed for participating in the assassination attempt on Hitler.

Max Planck died in Göttingen October 4, 1947 just six months short of his 90th birthday.

Founder quantum physics German theoretical physicist Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck is considered. It was he who laid the foundations of quantum theory in 1900, suggesting that during thermal radiation energy is emitted and absorbed in separate portions - quanta.

Later it was proven that any radiation is characterized by discontinuity.

From the biography

Max Planck was born on April 23, 1858 in Kiel. His father, Johann Julius Wilhelm von Planck, was a professor of law. In 1867, Max Planck began studying at the Royal Maximilian Gymnasium in Munich, where his family had moved by that time. In 1874, Planck graduated from high school and began studying mathematics and physics at the Universities of Munich and Berlin. Planck was only 21 years old when in 1879 he defended his dissertation “On the Second Law of the Mechanical Theory of Heat,” dedicated to the second law of thermodynamics. A year later, he defended his second dissertation, “Equilibrium state of isotropic bodies at different temperatures,” and became a private assistant professor at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Munich.

In the spring of 1885, Max Planck is an extraordinary professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics at Kiel University. In 1897, Planck's course of lectures on thermodynamics was published.

In January 1889, Planck assumed the duties of extraordinary professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Berlin, and in 1982 he became full professor. At the same time, he headed the Institute of Theoretical Physics.

In 1913/14 academic year Planck served as rector of the University of Berlin.

Planck's quantum theory

The Berlin period became the most fruitful in Planck's scientific career. Working on the problem of thermal radiation since 1890, in 1900 Planck suggested that electromagnetic radiation is not continuous. It is emitted in separate portions - quanta. And the magnitude of the quantum depends on the frequency of the radiation. Planck was derived formula for energy distribution in the spectrum of an absolutely black body. He established that light is emitted and absorbed in portions-quanta with a certain oscillation frequency. A the energy of each quantum is equal to the vibration frequency multiplied by a constant value, called Planck's constant.

E = hn, where n is the oscillation frequency, h is Planck’s constant.

Planck's constant called fundamental constant of quantum theory, or quantum of action.

This is a quantity that connects the energy value of a quantum of electromagnetic radiation with its frequency. But since any radiation occurs in quanta, Planck’s constant is valid for any linear oscillatory system.

December 19, 1900, when Planck reported his hypothesis at a meeting of the Berlin Physical Society, became the birthday of quantum theory.

In 1901, based on data on black body radiation, Planck was able to calculate the value Boltzmann constant. He also received Avogadro's number(number of atoms in one mole) and established electron charge value with the highest precision.

In 1919, Planck received the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services “to the development of physics through the discovery of energy quanta.”

In 1928, Max Planck turned 70 years old. He formally retired. But he did not stop collaborating with the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for Basic Sciences. In 1930 he became president of this society.

Planck was a member of the academies of sciences of Germany and Austria, scientific societies and academies of Ireland, England, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Sweden, the USA and the Soviet Union. The German Physical Society established the Planck Medal. This is the highest award of this society. And its first honorary owner was Max Planck himself.