Max Planck

Born in Kiel on April 23, 1858, and educated in Munich and Berlin, Max Planck built his career as a German theoretical physicist at a time when classical physics seemed nearly complete. Instead of following the crowd, he focused on deep problems in heat and radiation, asking questions that led to a completely new picture of nature.

In 1900, his work on blackbody radiation introduced the idea that energy is emitted and absorbed in discrete packets, a breakthrough that helped launch quantum theory. That achievement earned him the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics, and his name lives on in concepts such as Planck's constant and the many scientific institutions later named in his honor.

Planck remained an influential leader in German science for decades, even through the upheavals of two world wars. His life joined intellectual discipline with personal resilience, and his work still stands at the foundation of modern physics.