 |
Planck,
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig German physicist Born: Kiel, Schleswig, April 23, 1858 Died: Gottingen, October 3, 1947 | |||||||||
Avogadro Becquerel Bohr Doppler Einstein Geiger Heisenberg Hertz Kirchhoff Planck Roentgen Rutherford Schrodinger |
Planck was educated in Berlin and became a professor of physics at the University of Berlin in 1889. His doctoral thesis was based on thermodynamics and he turned his attention to the black body problem of Kirchhoff. He managed to work out a relatively simple equation that described the distribution of radiation over the length of the entire frequency spectrum. His equation was based on a crucial assumption: that energy existed, like matter, in particles, which he called quanta, or in the singular, quantum. As the temperature of a substance rises, higher energy quanta are emitted and the light radiated changes from orange to yellow to red to bluish. The small constant that is the ratio of the frequency to the size of the quantum is called Plancks constant, and it is symbolized as h. In 1905 Einstein first applied quantum theory to the photoelectric effect, and, in 1913, Bohr incorporated quantum theory into his explanation of the structure of the atom. In 1918 Planck was awarded the Nobel prize in physics. In 1963 quantum theory led to the quantum field theory. Planck was Jewish and interceded with Hitler on behalf of his colleagues. His son Erwin was executed in 1944, accused of being part of the plot to take Hitlers life. He was rescued by American forces in 1945 and lived into his ninetieth year. | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
vb-tech.co.za