| Description |
xiii, 238 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white), portraits (black and white) ; 22 cm |
| Contents |
Preface -- 1. Establishing the world picture -- Planck's formula -- Reluctant atomist -- Enthusiastic relativist -- Concerned pedagogue -- 2. Defending the world picture -- Against Mach -- In the academy -- In the war -- Against fate -- 3. Doctor of science -- Of the body -- International relations -- Anti-antirelativity -- Of the soul -- 4. In shipwreck -- As captain -- As chaplain -- As salvager -- By their fruits ye shall know them |
| Summary |
"This sensitive, meticulously documented portrait of the father of quantum theory reconstructs the life and work of Max Planck and the moral dilemmas he faced as a spokesman for science under the Wilhelmian Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich. Planck's resolution of his dilemmas has special interest, for he was a man of exemplary probity who rejected the political philosophies of the later regimes he served. Heilbron recounts Planck's efforts to adjust his nineteenth-century image of science and civic life to world war, revolution, fascism, and the destruction of international science. Important not only as a biography, this book is also a vivid demonstration that no scientist works in isolation from contemporary political and social events. As Heilbron chronicles Planck's rise to authority in the German scientific world, we learn much about the world views of physicists and the circumstances under which they worked, about the reception of quantum theory and relativity, and about the awarding and exploiting of Nobel prizes. But most notably, we follow Planck's labors to reestablish the international community of physicists, shattered by the First World War, and his quiet, tenacious defense of Germany's scientific institutions against the destructive influence of the Third Reich." -- dust jacket fly-leaf |
| Analysis |
Physics Planck, Max |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliography: pages 205-225 and index |
| Subject |
Planck, Max, 1858-1947.
|
|
Planck, Max
|
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Physicists -- Germany -- Biography.
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Physics -- Germany -- History.
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Physics -- history.
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Physics.
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Science -- history.
|
| SUBJECT |
Germany. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D005858 |
|
Germany. https://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D005858 |
| Genre/Form |
Biographies.
|
| LC no. |
85024609 |
| ISBN |
0520057104 (alk. paper) |
|
9780520057104 |
|
