THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE QUANTUM THEORY

by Max Planck

My task this day is to present an address dealing with the subjects of my publications. I feel I can best discharge this duty, the significance of which is deeply impressed upon me by my debt of gratitude to the generous founder of this Institute,by attempting to sketch in outline the history of the origin of the Quantum Theory and to give a brief account of the development of this theory and its influence on the Physics of the present day.

Genres: Science, Physics, Classics, Nonfiction, German Literature, Stem

28 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2009

About the author

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.

Planck made many contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame rests primarily on his role as originator of the quantum theory. This theory revolutionized human understanding of atomic and subatomic processes, just as Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized the understanding of space and time. Together they constitute the fundamental theories of 20th-century physics.

Reviews

[Pardis TD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generally his calculations were pretty accurate for his time, he is a quantum theorist after all.

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Archaic physics of the latter Dark Ages. Determinism still reins in a fairyland of laws, waves, constants and fields. But at least Maxwell's electromagnetic radiation theory and consequently "the classical theory of interference phenomena" is trashed.

[Galicius · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Max Planck's speech before the Nobel Committee in 1920 when he was awarded the prize.