Max Planck

Max Planck
Max Planck
	Planck in 1938
Born	Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck; 23 April 1858; Kiel, Duchy of Holstein
Died	4 October 1947 (aged 89); Göttingen, Germany
Resting place	Stadtfriedhof, Göttingen
Education	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München ; (grad. 1879); Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin;
Known for	Originator of old quantum theory; Planck constant; Planck's law; Planck postulate; Planck units; See full list;
Spouses	; Marie Merck (m. 1887; died 1909) ; Marga von Hösslin (m. 1911)
Children	5, including Erwin
Awards	Nobel Prize in Physics (1918); Franklin Medal (1927); Lorentz Medal (1927); Copley Medal (1929); Max Planck Medal (1929); Goethe Prize (1945);
	Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Workplaces	Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München; Kiel University; Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin;
Thesis	Über den zweiten Hauptsatz der mechanischen Wärmetheorie (1879)
Doctoral advisor	Alexander von Brill
Other academic advisors	Hermann von Helmholtz; Philipp von Jolly; Gustav Kirchhoff; Karl Weierstrass;
Doctoral students	See list Max Abraham ; Walther Bothe ; Hans von Euler-Chelpin ; Hartmut Kallmann ; Wolfgang Köhler ; Erich Kretschmann ; Max von Laue ; Walther Meissner ; Kurd von Mosengeil ; Moritz Schlick ; Walter Schottky ; Erich Schumann;
Other notable students	See list Richard Becker ; George Ellery Hale ; Gustav Ludwig Hertz ; Elizabeth Laird ; Lise Meitner ; Ernest Merritt ; Eugene Wigner ; Ernst Zermelo;
Signature

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (/plɑːŋk/; German: [ˈmaks ˈplaŋk] ^ⓘ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist. He was awarded the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by his discovery of energy quanta".

Planck made many contributions to theoretical physics, primarily in his role as the originator of quantum theory and one of the founders of modern physics, which revolutionized understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. He is known for the Planck constant, $h$ , which is of foundational importance for quantum physics, and which he used to derive a set of units, now called Planck units, expressed in terms of physical constants. The Planck relation, $E$ = $h$ $ν$ , states that the energy of a photon is proportional to its frequency.

Planck was twice President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society. In 1948 it was renamed the Max Planck Society, and today includes 83 institutions representing a wide range of scientific disciplines.