PlanckMax01

= Early Life & Education =



In The Beginning. ..
Born with the name Marx Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, it could be quite difficult for a young boy to sign his name to a paper, so at the age of 10, Planck signed his name Max Planck to a paper, and it stuck with him for the rest of his life. Max was born in Kiel, Germany, son of Julius Wilhelm Planck. With father Julius as the professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Kiel, young Max had high expectations, which he proved to surpass. Unfortunately for Max, the only memory as a young boy he seemed to grasp was the Danish-Prussian War, which took place right in his back yard at one point. This eventually caused the Plancks' to move to Munich, which proved to be a foundation in his life for his success.

(Danish Prussian War)

Dear Julius, You've Created An Intellectual Monster. ..
Father Julius enrolled Max in a gymnasium school in Munich where he started to study under Hermann Muller. Muller was a mathematician and taught astronomy as well. Planck got his first taste of physics when Muller taught him about the principle of Conservation of Energy, and it amazed him so much that all he wanted to learn about was physics from that point on. He graduated early at the age of 17 and was looking into the field of physics. Max then attended the University of Munich, and professor Philipp von Jolly strongly urged Max to stay away from the field of physics saying "in this field, almost everything is already discovered, all that is left is to fill a few holes." Soon enough, Max was studying Physics under mentor Philipp and began with diffusion of Hydrogen, but shortly after transferred to theoretical physics. After attending Munich, he moved to The University of Berlin, where he got into even more depth.

Heat Theory
Planck often criticized his professors at Berlin, but found one to be quite intelligent, and really "hit home" for Max. This professor, Hermann von Helmholtz, started to work one on one with Max and introduced Clausius' writings which led him to choosing Heat Theory as his field of choice. In 1880 Planck introduced his first theory, his own habilitation thesis, Equilibrium states of isotropic bodies at different temperatures.