STRIPS Max

23 April 1858. - October 4, 1947
The German physicist Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was born in g. Kiel (then belonging to Prussia), the son of a professor of civil law Johann Julius Wilhelm von Planck, professor of civil law, and Emma (nee Patzig) Plank. As a child, the boy learned to play the piano and organ, revealing his outstanding musical ability. In 1867, Mr.. family moved to Munich, and there P. enrolled in the Royal Maximilian classical gymnasium, where an excellent teacher of mathematics first aroused his interest in natural and exact sciences. At the end of high school in 1874,. he was going to study classical philology, tried his hand at musical composition, but then opted for physics.
Within three years, P. studied mathematics and physics in Munich and the year - the University of Berlin. One of his professors at Munich physicist Philipp von Jolly, proved a poor prophet when advised young P. choose another profession, because, in his words, in physics there was nothing fundamentally new, that could be opened. This view, widespread at the time, came under the influence of extraordinary success, which scientists in the XIX century. achieved in the multiplication of our knowledge about the physical and chemical processes.
When she was in Berlin P. acquired a broader view of physics publications by prominent physicists Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff, as well as articles Rudolf Clausius. Understanding their labors contributed to the scientific interests of P. long focused on the thermodynamics - the field of physics, in which, based on a small number of fundamental laws to study the phenomena of heat, mechanical energy and energy conversion. Degree of Doctor P. received in 1879, defended his thesis at Munich University on the second law of thermodynamics, stating that none of the continuous self-sustaining process can not endure heat from a colder body to a warmer.
. The following year, P
. wrote another work on thermodynamics, which brought him the post of junior assistant, Physics Department, University of Munich. In 1885, Mr.. he became Associate Professor, Keele University, which has strengthened its independence, strengthen the financial position and allow more time for research. Portfolio P. on thermodynamics and its applications to physical chemistry and electrochemistry have earned him international recognition. In 1888. he became an associate professor at Berlin University and director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics (the post of Director was created especially for him). Full (real), he became professor in 1892
Since 1896. P. interested in the measurements produced in the State Physical-Technical Institute in Berlin, as well as problems of thermal radiation phone. Any body that contains the heat, emits electromagnetic radiation. If the body is hot enough, it becomes visible radiation. When it warms the body make red-hot at first, then becoming orange-yellow and finally white. The radiation emitted by a mixture of frequencies (in the visible range of the frequency of radiation corresponds to the color). However, the radiation of a body depends not only on temperature, but also to some extent on the surface characteristics such as color and structure.
. In an ideal benchmark for measuring and theoretical studies of physics have imagined an absolute black body
. By definition, an ideal black body is called, which absorbs all radiation incident on it and did not reflect. The radiation emitted by an ideal black body depends only on its temperature. Although such an ideal body does not exist, . certain approximation to it can serve as a closed shell with a small hole (eg, . properly constructed furnace, . wall and the contents of which are in equilibrium at the same temperature).,
. One of the characteristics of black body of evidence of such shells is as follows:
. Radiation incident on the hole, falls into the cavity and reflected from the walls, partially reflected and partially absorbed. Since the probability that the radiation resulting from multiple reflections will come out through the hole, very small, it is almost completely absorbed. Radiation originating in the cavity and withdrawing from the hole, considered to be equivalent to the radiation emitted by the ground the size of the hole on the surface of a blackbody at the temperature of the cavity and the shell. Preparing their own studies, P. read the work of Kirchhoff on the properties of such a shell with a hole. Exact quantitative description of the observed distribution of radiation energy in this case has been called the problem of black body.
. The experiments showed that with a black body, a graph of energy (brightness) on the frequency or wavelength is a characteristic curve
. At low frequencies (long wavelengths), it nestles on the frequency axis, then at some intermediate frequency reaches a maximum (peak with a rounded top), and then at higher frequencies (short wavelengths) decreases. With increasing temperature curve retains its shape, but shifted toward higher frequencies. Were established empirical relationship between temperature and the frequency of the peak in the curve of blackbody radiation (Wien's displacement law, . named in honor of William Wines), and between the temperature and throughout the radiated energy (Stefan - Boltzmann Law, . named after the Austrian physicist Josef Stefan and Ludwig Boltzmann), . but nobody has been able to bring the curve of blackbody radiation from the basic principles, . known at that time.,
. Win managed to get semi-empirical formula which can be adjusted so that it describes a curve at high frequencies, but passes it wrong to move at low frequencies
. J. U. Stratton (Lord Rayleigh) and the English physicist James Jeans applied the principle of equal distribution of energy over the frequencies of the oscillator, the prisoners in the space of a black body, and came to a different formula (the formula of Rayleigh - Jeans). It reproduces well the curve of blackbody radiation at low frequencies, but diverges from it at high frequencies.
P. under the influence of the theory of the electromagnetic nature of light, James Clerk Maxwell (published in 1873,. and confirmed experimentally by Heinrich Hertz in 1887) approached the problem of black body in terms of energy distribution between the elementary electric oscillators, the physical form which does not specify. Although at first glance it may seem that the chosen method he recalls finding the Rayleigh - Jeans, P. rejected some of the assumptions adopted by these scholars.
In 1900, after prolonged and persistent attempts to create a theory that could satisfactorily explain the experimental data, P. able to derive a formula which, as found experimentalists of the State Physical-Technical Institute, consistent with the results of measurements with remarkable accuracy. Laws Wine and Stefan - Boltzmann also followed from the Planck formula. However, for the withdrawal of his formula he had to introduce a radical concept that runs counter to all established principles of. The energy of the Planck oscillators does not change continuously, as it should be of traditional physics, but can take only discrete values, increasing (or decreasing) by finite steps. Each step of the energy is equal to some constant (now called Planck's constant), multiplied by the frequency. Discrete portions of energy later called quanta. Introduced P. hypothesis heralded the birth of quantum theory, committing a real revolution in physics. Classical physics as opposed to modern physics now means 'physics to Planck'.
P. was by no means revolutionary, and neither he nor other physicists did not realize the deep meaning of the word 'quantum'. For P. quantum was only instrumental in allowing to derive a formula that gives a satisfactory agreement with the curve of blackbody radiation. He repeatedly tried to reach an agreement within the classical tradition, but to no avail. However, he noted with pleasure the first successes of quantum theory, followed almost immediately by. His new theory is included, in addition to Planck's constant, and other fundamental values, such as the speed of light and the number, known as the Boltzmann constant. In 1901, based on experimental data on the blackbody radiation, P. calculated the value of the Boltzmann constant, and using other known information received Avogadro number (the number of atoms in a molecule element). Based on the Avogadro number, P. managed with remarkable precision to find the electric charge of an electron.
. The positions of the quantum theory strengthened in 1905, . when Albert Einstein used the concept of a photon - a quantum of electromagnetic radiation - for an explanation of the photoelectric effect (emission of electrons of the metal surface, . illuminated by ultraviolet radiation),
. Einstein suggested that light has a dual nature: it can behave as a wave (in what convinces us all the previous physics), and as a particle (as evidenced by the photoelectric effect). In 1907, Mr.. Einstein further strengthened the position of the quantum theory, . using the notion of a quantum explanation for the puzzling discrepancy between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of specific heat of bodies - the amount of heat, . necessary to, . to raise one degree temperature of one unit mass of solid.,
. Another confirmation of the potential power of the imposed P
. innovations came in 1913, Mr.. from Niels Bohr, apply the quantum theory of atomic structure. In the Bohr model, electrons in an atom could only be at certain energy levels, determined by the quantum constraints. The transition of electrons from one level to another is accompanied by the energy difference in the form of photon radiation with a frequency equal to the energy of a photon divided by Planck's constant. Thereby obtains a quantum explanation for the characteristic spectra of radiation emitted by excited atoms.
In 1919, Mr.. P. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1918. 'in recognition of his contribution to the development of physics from the discovery of energy quanta'. As stated A.G. Ekstrand, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, at the award ceremony, 'the theory of radiation P. - The brightest of the guiding stars of modern physical research, and will, as far as can be judged, be some time before you run out of the treasures that have been mined his genius'. In the Nobel lecture in 1920, P. summed up his work and acknowledged that 'the introduction of the quantum has not yet led to the creation of a genuine quantum theory'.
20-e gg. witnessed the development of Erwin SchrцІdinger, Werner Heisenberg, P.A.M. Dirac and other quantum mechanics - with sophisticated mathematical apparatus of quantum theory. P. had not like the new probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics, and, like Einstein, he tried to reconcile the predictions based only on the principle of probability, with the classical ideas of causality. His aspirations have not come true: a probabilistic approach survived.
Contribution P. in modern physics is not confined to the discovery of the quantum and the constant, now bears his name. Strong impression on him made the special theory of relativity, published in 1905. Full support provided by P. new theory, in no small measure contributed to the adoption of the special theory of relativity physicists. Among his other achievements include his proposed withdrawal of the Fokker - Planck, . describing the behavior of particles under the influence of small random impulses (Adriaan Fokker - Netherlands physicist, . improved method, . first used by Einstein for the description of Brownian motion - the random zigzag motion of minute particles, . suspended in liquid),
. In 1928, Mr.. at the age of seventy years, Planck came to be formally retired, but not severed ties with the Society for Basic Sciences Kaiser Wilhelm, whose president he became in 1930. And on the eve of the eighth decade, he continued research.
Life P. was marked by tragedy. His first wife, nee Mary Merck, with whom he married in 1885. and who bore him two sons and two daughters, twins, died in 1909. Two years later he married his niece, Marge von Hesslin, from which he also had a son. Eldest son P. died in the First World War, and in subsequent years, both his daughters had died in childbirth. The second son from his first marriage, was executed in 1944. for participation in the failed coup against Hitler.
As a man in perceptions and religious beliefs, or simply as a fair man, P. after the arrival in 1933. Hitler came to power publicly defended the Jewish scholars who were driven from their positions and forced to emigrate. At the conference, he welcomed the Einstein anathema Nazis. When P. as president of the Society for Basic Sciences Kaiser Wilhelm inflicted an official visit to Hitler, he used the occasion to try to stop the persecution of Jewish scientists. In response, Hitler broke tirade against Jews in general. Later P. became more restrained and silent, even though the Nazis, of course, aware of his views.
As a patriot, a loving home, he could only pray that the nation of Germany had regained a normal life. He continued to serve in the various Germanic societies, researchers hoping to retain at least some little German science and education from total destruction. After his home and personal library were killed during an air raid on Berlin, P. and his wife sought refuge in the estate Rogets near Magdeburg, where were among the retreating German troops and the advancing forces of the Allied forces. In the end, the couple Planck, American units were discovered and taken to a secure then Goettingen.
Died P. in Gottingen, October 4, 1947, six months before their 90 th anniversary. On his tombstone carved only the name and last name and the numerical value of Planck's constant.
Like Bohr and Einstein, P. deeply interested in philosophical issues related to causality, ethics and free will, and acted on these themes in the press and before professional and lay audiences. Acting pastor (but had no priesthood) in Berlin, P. was deeply convinced that science and religion complement teaches truthfulness and respect.
Through his life P. carried a love for music that erupted there in early childhood. Pianist, he often played chamber works with his friend Einstein, until he left Germany. P. was also an avid mountain climber and almost everyone spent their holidays 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, Mr.. Frankfurt (1946). Germanic Physical Society, named in honor of him its highest award of the Medal Planck himself P. was the first winner of this prestigious award. In honor of its 80 th anniversary of one of the minor planet was named Plankianoy, and after the Second World War, Society for Basic Sciences Kaiser Wilhelm was renamed the Max Planck Society. P. Germanskoy and was a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, as well as scientific societies and academies of Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Soviet Union, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States.