PLANCK, MAX. - TOWARDS THE QUANTUM THEORY

Über irreversible Strahlungsvorgänge. Erste Mittheilung. (Vorgetragen am 4 Februar: - gedruckt im Bericht vom gleichen Tage [St. VI]; - ausgegeben am 11 Februar.). [In: Mathematische und naturwissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus den Sitzungsberichten der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Heft II. Februar 1897.].

Berlin, 1897. 4to. Uncut and unopened in original printed wrappers. Fresh copy, fine and clean. Near mint. The entire "Heft" II: Pp. 35-81. Planck's paper pp.35-46.

Max Planck is considered to be the founder of the quantum theory and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. "Über irreversible Strahlungsvorgänge" is a mathematical description of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from a black-body.
"Über irreversible Strahlungsvorgänge was published in five parts in the period 1897-1901, the present volume being number 1.

"With the Kirchhoff-Wien-Boltzmann work as a background, Max Planck began his attack on the black-body problem in 1897. He labored under the erroneous impression for some time that Wien's formula was the only one which harmonized with the second law of thermodynamics. The experiments on black-bodies due to Lummer and Pringsheim, Rubens and Kurlbaum forced him from that position." (Planck, Max. Catalogue 258, Interlibrum Vaduz)

"I had already been struggling with the problem of the equilibrium of matter and radiation for some years without success; I knew the problem is of fundamental significance for Physics."

The significance was unparallelled, when he in December 1900 delivered a paper entitled "On the Theory of the Energy Distribution Law in the Normal Spectrum" before the German Physical Society, which today is considered the birth of quantum physics. The present volume constitutes a precursor to this work. - Akademie No 33

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