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Planck

Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Brandon R. Brown

Reveals Planck's personal correspondence with Einstein, and shows how Planck struggled to survive in war-torn Germany.
Places Planck's scientific contributions in historical context, showing him to be one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century.

Planck

Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Brandon R. Brown

Description

Planck's Law, an equation used by physicists to determine the radiation leaking from any object in the universe, was described by Albert Einstein as "the basis of all twentieth-century physics." Max Planck is credited with being the father of quantum theory, and his work laid the foundation for our modern understanding of matter and energetic processes. But Planck's story is not well known, especially in the United States. A German physicist working during the first half of the twentieth century, his library, personal journals, notebooks, and letters were all destroyed with his home in World War II. What remains, other than his contributions to science, are handwritten letters in German shorthand, and tributes from other scientists of the time, including his close friend Albert Einstein.

In Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War, Brandon R. Brown interweaves the voices and writings of Planck, his family, and his contemporaries-with many passages appearing in English for the first time-to create a portrait of a groundbreaking physicist working in the midst of war. Planck spent much of his adult life grappling with the identity crisis of being an influential German with ideas that ran counter to his government. During the later part of his life, he survived bombings and battlefields, surgeries and blood transfusions, all the while performing his influential work amidst a violent and crumbling Nazi bureaucracy. When his son was accused of treason related to a bombing, Planck tried to use his standing as a German "national treasure," and wrote direct letters to Hitler to spare his son's life. Brown tells the story of Planck's friendship with the far more outspoken Albert Einstein, and shows how his work fits within the explosion of technology and science that occurred during his life.

The story of a brilliant man living in a dangerous time, Brandon Brown gives Max Planck his rightful place in the history of science, and shows how war-torn Germany deeply impacted his life and work.

Planck

Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Brandon R. Brown

Planck

Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Brandon R. Brown

Author Information

Brandon R. Brown, Professor of Physics, University of San Francisco

Brandon R. Brown is a Professor of Physics at the University of San Francisco. He completed doctoral training in superconductivity, with postdoctoral work in science communication. His biophysics work on the electric sense of sharks, as covered by NPR and the BBC, has appeared in Nature, The Physical Review, and other research journals. His writing for general audiences has appeared in New Scientist, SEED, the Huffington Post, and other outlets.

Planck

Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Brandon R. Brown

Reviews and Awards

2016 Housatonic Book Award for Non-Fiction Recipient

"I loved every aspect of this engaging portrait of Max Planck." - Naomi Pasachoff, Metascience

"Historians of leading physicists and their complex scientific theories will appreciate Brown's inclusion of many of them here. He valiantly tries to explain these theories in simple terms, including Einsteins work, but often comes up short. This is not a weakness but an indication that sections of this book are intended for advanced readers. Understanding the science is not necessary to appreciate the main points of the book, however. In the end, Brown's work is not just a reflection of one man, albeit a remarkable one, nor simply an examination of the collective contributions of his many colleagues. Rather, this book is also an examination of evil and the many ways that people reacted to it." - David Mills, H-War

"Brandon Brown [focuses] on the tragedy of one man, the Nobel physicist Max Planck, whose son Erwin was executed because of nebulous connections to the plot to kill Hitler. The cruel inevitability of Erwin's fate is chillingly played out against the larger narrative of Plancks extraordinary life. Beautiful words describe terrible heartache." - Gerard DeGroot, Books of the Year 2015, The Times

"Brown's fervour is inspiring. He has done a great service by shedding light on the life and work of a very brilliant though troubled individual, 'father of quantum theory' and witness to the greatest upheavals of the 20th century." - History Today, Giulia Miller

""[Planck's story] is told rather perfectly... Since memories are by nature random and ephemeral, there's nothing linear about the way [his story] unfolds. That's precisely what makes this book so special." - The Times

"An illuminating biography... Brown interweaves a gripping backstory, ranging from Planck's landmark theoretical description of blackbody radiation to his loyal advocacy for fellow physicist Lise Meitner." - Nature

"A captivating biography." - Physics Today

"Planck had his flaws, but readers of this engrossing, insightful, and definitive biography will share Brown's admiration and agree that he deserves his iconic reputation." - Publisher's Weekly

Planck

Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Brandon R. Brown

From Our Blog

Max Planck and Albert Einstein

There was much more to Max Planck than his work and research as an influential physicist. For example, Planck was an avid musician, and endured many personal hardships under the Nazi regime in his home country of Germany.

Posted on November 23, 2015

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Max Planck: Einstein's supportive skeptic in 1915

This November marks the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein completing his masterpiece of general relativity, an idea that would lead, one world war later, to his unprecedented worldwide celebrity. In the run-up to what he called 'the most valuable discovery of my life,' he worked within a new sort of academic comfort.

Posted on November 9, 2015

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Max Planck's debt

The great German physicist Max Planck once said, 'However many specialties science may split into, it remains fundamentally an indivisible whole.' He declared that the divisions and subdivisions of scientific disciplines were 'not based on the nature of things.'

Posted on August 18, 2015

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