Planck Dies: Father of Quantum Theory Leaves Lasting Legacy
Max Planck didn't want to overturn physics. He wanted to solve a narrow technical problem: why hot objects glow the colors they do. His answer — that energy comes in discrete packets, not continuous waves — was so radical he spent years trying to walk it back. He couldn't. The quantum he invented in 1900 became the foundation of modern physics. He died in 1947 at 89, having lived long enough to see his reluctant revolution produce the atomic bomb.
October 4, 1947
79 years ago
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