A tribute to Max Planck

Abstract

Physics seemed complete, in the 1890s. The accomplishments of the kinetic theory of gases were impressive, though some details remained to be solved. The new rays, of all kinds, were just novelties to be embedded in the well-established overall picture. Heat radiation, though, proved disturbing. In its purest form, emitted by a source at constant temperature and, subsequently, refracted by a prism, the spectrum being scanned by a bolometer, it produced curves similar to the statistical distributions current in the kinetic theory. Max Planck was the first to realize the far-reaching consequences. It brought him the Nobel Prize for Physics of 1918.