The Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory: Being the Nobel Prize Address Delivered Before the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, 2 June, 1920

by Max Planck

Every breath you've ever taken has vibrated with the importance of this work. In The Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory, we address the behaviour of atoms and subatomic particles and peer into the scaffolding and instruction manuals of the Gods. Nobel Prize winning physicist Max Planck, despite a reputedly steady and conservative disposition, revolutionised his field and his work on black body radiation and his particular conclusions on Quanta remain on the cutting edge of theoretical physics. Atoms and subatomic particles emit thermal radiation but the extent to which this is from the violet portion of the spectrum varies, in this lecture, the reader can find out why.

After a life in which he had already been fighting to see an upswing in the fortunes of his beleaguered nation, he gave this lecture to an assembly of his most distinguished colleagues in 1920 in Stockholm. In these pages you can find his inspiring words about the glory of a lofty goal being undimmed by initial failures. In a moment of fantastic success, this speech illustrates the truth of his theory, rising from the ashes of the First World War with a discovery which changed the way physicists think. The lecture theatre was full of the finest minds of the age, waiting with baited breath on the edge of their seats to hear a genius hold forth on what made the Universe run.

As the great man himself said 'Whatever the answer to this question, there can be no doubt that science will some day master the dilemma'.

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

32 pages, Hardcover

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.