Life of the scientist...

The Life of Max Planck
Written by Aidin Beck


Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German physicist best known for his work in thermodynamics and is considered to be the founder of the quantum theory (Elsevier Publishing Company, 1967). Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918, was a professor at Berlin University from 1889 to 1926 and became President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for The Promotion of Science until 1937. Max Planck's life was filled with turmoil, uncertainty and a wide range of obstacles. His ability to overcome them and pursue his love of physics is one of the primary reasons he has become one of the most widely known scientists to this day.

Early Life
                Max Planck was born on April 23rd, 1858 in Kiel, Germany, to an academic family. His father was a professor of Law and both his grandfather and great-grandfather had been theology professors. Planck was never sure of what he wanted to do in life but always respected the institutions of the church and state. In 1867, Planck and his family moved to Munich, providing Max with a stimulating environment filled with culture and music. It was around this time that Planck fell in love with music (he was already a gifted pianist and organ player) and decided he might want to be a musician. Max Planck did well in school but was never outstanding and showed little promise in excelling in math or science. It was not until university that Planck began to love math and physics. Planck was intrigued by the possibilities of understanding modern life with physics and at one time wrote,

"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."


Planck was discouraged from studying physics by Professor von Jolly at the University of Munich because he explained that it was already a complete science with a bleak future for research. This did not deter Planck who went on to study physics at Berlin University with teachers like Weierstrass, Helmholtz and Kirchoff. Thermodynamics were particularly interesting for Planck, especially the absolute nature of the second law of thermodynamics. In 1879, when he was 21, Max Planck returned to Munich and wrote a thesis on the second law of thermodynamics entitled, On the Second Law of Mechanical Theory of Heat. He continued his research on thermodynamics and began teaching at Munich University in 1880. From then on, Planck wrote many papers on physical chemistry and thermoelectricity until 1887. When Kirchoff died and left an open position for a position for a physicist at Berlin University. Planck filled this void and created some of his most brilliant work while living in Berlin.

Radiation
                Planck became very interested in radiation and began researching a problem that Kirchoff had studied in 1859 dealing with electromagnetic radiation, frequency and temperature of a black body (an ideal object that absorbs all radiation falling on it). Planck wondered how much the intensity of electromagnetic radiation emitted from a black body depended on the frequency of the radiation and the temperature of the body. Planck discovered that the electromagnetic energy could only be emitted in quantized form where the energy could only be a multiple of an elementary unit E = hν.h was defined as Planck's constant and allowed a new universal set of physical units to be defined by fundamental physical constants. Planck was introducing the quantum as a real physical entity and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918. His research was instrumental to physics as it helped open the door for quantum physics.

War and Turmoil
                Max Planck lived through both World Wars in Germany and was greatly affected by the turmoil he and his family faced. Planck's wife died 1909, leaving him with two daughters and two sons. His youngest son was killed in 1916 in World War I, and then both his daughters died in childbirth. His remaining son became his best friend and advisor for many years until tragedy struck again. In 1944, his son was involved in a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler and was executed by the Gestapo in 1945. Planck endured seeing many great scientists flee Germany and even witnessed his own home burn down in an air raid but felt it was his duty to stay in Berlin and preserve the remaining scientific research on thermodynamics.
                Max Planck continued contributing to the scientific world and put a great deal of effort into reconstructing German science after the Second World War. Planck was 87 when he was elected President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft in 1945-1946. His life was dedicated to science and continued to contribute new information up until his death in 1947.