German physicist Max Planck’s groundbreaking study on the influence of radiation on a “blackbody” material marks the inception of the quantum theory of modern physics.
Through experimental physics, Planck revealed that, under certain conditions, energy can demonstrate properties like physical matter. Classical physics theories posited that energy exists solely as a continuous wave-like entity, not linked to the properties of physical matter. In contrast, Planck’s theory proposed that radiant energy consists of particle-like units termed “quantum.” This theory contributed to clarifying previously unexplainable natural phenomena, including the behavior of heat in solids and the atomic-level characteristics of light absorption. For his research on blackbody radiation, Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1918.
Furthering Planck’s theory were other scientists, including Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Louis de Broglie, Erwin Schrodinger, and Paul M. Dirac, who paved the way for the creation of quantum mechanics—a mathematical framework that asserts energy behaves as both matter and a wave depending on specific conditions.
Thus, quantum mechanics presents a probabilistic perspective of nature, in stark contrast to classical mechanics, where all specific attributes of objects can, in theory, be computed. Today, the integration of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity serves as the foundation of modern physics.
by David Livingstone
