Planck, Max Karl Ernst Ludwig (1858–1947)
German physicist whose quantum theory (see Planck and the origins of quantum theory), with the theory of relativity, ushered physics into the modern theory. Initially influenced by Clausius, he made fundamental researches in thermodynamics before turning to investigate blackbody radiation. To describe the electromagnetic radiation emitted from a blackbody he evolved the Planck radiation formula which implied that energy, like matter, is not infinitely indivisible – that it can exist only as quanta (see Planck constant). Planck himself was unconvinced of this, even after Einstein had applied the theory to the photoelectric effect and Bohr in his model of the atom (see Bohr atom); but for his achievement he received the 1918 Nobel Prize for Physics.
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