Abstract
PROF. MAX PLANCK, originator of the quantum theory and emeritus professor of theoretical physics in the University of Berlin, will celebrate his eightieth birthday on April 23. Planck's work had a singularly direct influence on the development of modern physical theory. Beginning with purely thermo-dynamical studies—which have been embodied in his well-known text-book on thermodynamics—he soon applied both the descriptive and the statistical methods of thermodynamics to radiation, and was successful in finding a formula for the spectral energy distribution of black-body radiation which fitted the measurements and which could be deduced on the assumption that radiation is transferred from matter in quanta of energy proportional to the frequency v. Successive editions of Planck's book “Wärme-strahlung” show the development and variation of the original theory, of which the underlying physical idea remained for many years a mystery to physicists, although Planck's constant h was found to enter into various relations between radiation and matter, for example, in the photo-effect. It was not until Bohr explained the laws of spectral emission of atoms by a two-fold application of Planck's constant that this latter was recognized as fundamental for all kinds of atomic action.
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Prof. Max Planck, For. Mem.R.S.. Nature 141, 720 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141720a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141720a0