The Origin and Development of the Quantum Theory: with "A Scientific Autobiography"

Quantum physics originated from Max Planck’s great discovery of the quantum of energy in 1900. Exactly how was the quantum revolution ignited by Planck? Were there some devious roads he walked during his discovery? In his fascinating Nobel Lecture and Scientific Autobiography, which are carefully edited in this book, Planck told us how he discovered the quantum “after a few weeks of the most strenuous work” of his life, and what “an unexpected vista began to appear” after the darkness was lifted. In particular, he vividly recollected the wrong paths that he followed during his discovery, which may be the most intriguing part of his quantum story for general readers.

Besides, this little book also includes Einstein’s famous tribute to Planck at his 60th birthday celebration, as well as an excerpt of the memorial address delivered by Max von Laue, Planck's former student and later his colleague and friend. These materials will further help us to understand what a quantum man Planck was and why he became a "reluctant" revolutionary.

Book Excerpt:

My mind absorbed avidly, like a revelation, the first law I knew to possess absolute, universal validity, independently from all human agency: The principle of the conservation of energy. I shall never forget the graphic story Müller told us, at his raconteur's best, of the bricklayer lifting with great effort a heavy block of stone to the roof of a house. The work he thus performs does not get lost; it remains stored up, perhaps for many years, undiminished and latent in the block of stone, until one day the block is perhaps loosened and drops on the head of some passerby.

The effect of my dissertation on the physicists of those days was nil. None of my professors at the University had any understanding for its contents, as I learned for a fact in my conversations with them.

My futile attempts to fit the elementary quantum of action somehow into the classical theory continued for a number of years, and they cost me a great deal of effort. Many of my colleagues saw in this something bordering on a tragedy. But I feel differently about it. For the thorough enlightenment I thus received was all the more valuable.

A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.