Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War

by Brandon R. Brown

Max Planck is credited with being the father of quantum theory, and his work was described by his close friend Albert Einstein as "the basis of all twentieth-century physics." 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.

In 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, Planck tried to use his standing as a German "national treasure," and wrote directly 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.

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

Genres: Biography, Science, Physics, History, Nonfiction, History Of Science, World War II

280 pages, Hardcover

First published May 29, 2015

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Rama Rao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max Planck, the founding father of quantum physics

Max Planck’s childhood was not easy; it was marred by the ravages of war. First in years leading to 1864, when the Second Schleswig War was declared, and later in his adult life, the WWI and WWII combined with atrocities committed by Nazi’s against Jews and later by the Russian Red Army during their occupation of Germany. Despite all this, he had a stable family and he showed his aptitude for everything he tried in his life with a fondness for languages, mathematics, Bible and music. He was the favorite kid in his entire school.

His early struggles made him understand the situation of other young physicists, and he was an encouraging voice to anyone who came up with new scientific ideas. In his middle age, he advocated for the “peculiar” yet eloquent work of young Albert Einstein. He stood against the establishment to find a scientific place for young Lise Meitner, the brilliant Jewish woman who came to Berlin just to hear his physics lecture. Years later she along with Otto Hahn jointly discovered the fission of the uranium nucleus that lead to the discovery nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The world came to know their extraordinary discovery and the 1944 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Otto Hahn clearly denying Meitner’s share of the Nobel Prize. This was a clear case of gender discrimination against the brilliant physicist.

In early 1909, Max Planck, a giant in the field of physics at that time, gave a series of eight lectures at Columbia University in New York. His mentor Hermann von Helmholtz had given series of lectures at Columbia 15 years earlier. At that time, Einstein was still an unknown figure and his 1905 publication on Special Relativity was revolutionizing idea in physics. Half way through his eighth and final lecture, Planck made a crucial point warning the political dawn of “German” and “Jewish” physics in the devastating decades to come. In the years leading up to WWI and WWI, it became painfully clear that Jewish physicists will be treated deplorably as the political tensions was mounting. Even among many respected German physicists, Einstein’s theory of special relativity did not sit well as it abolished the universal time for all observers. Max Planck admitted that this would spawn headaches. In the next several years, Planck and Einstein had contentious and irreconcilable differences.

Max Planck’s personal life was agonized repeatedly as the scars of wars was personal for him. During the WWI, Planck’s second son was taken as a prisoner by the French in 1914. Years later, in 1945, when Germany was under the Third Reich, his favorite son Erwin Planck was sentenced to death by the Nazis for trying to assassinate the Fuhrer. His standing in the world of physics did not help convince Hitler to spare his son’s life.

Max Planck was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1918, and his philosophical and spiritual views could be seen in some of his statements. Once he said, “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.” “An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer.” In his famous lecture “Religion and Science” in May 1937, Planck wrote: “Both religion and science need for their activities the belief in God, and moreover God stands for the former in the beginning, and for the latter at the end of the whole thinking. For the former, God represents the basis, for the latter, the crown of any reasoning concerning the world-view.”

This book some has some rare pictures of him and his family, and I liked the one with his siblings. This biography illustrates the story of a brilliant man living in a dangerous time gives Max Planck his rightful place in the history of science, and it shows how ravages of war deeply impacted his life and work.

[Marjolein (UrlPhantomhive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Every now and then I am looking for an interesting book about a famous scientist and this time it was Max Planck, founder of the quantum mechanics. I was pretty unaware about his history except being German and an important physicist. I'm glad I learned about his fascinating life as well.

Told in an interesting format, where basically the last year(s) of the second world war are the starting point from each chapter which is then also looking back at the rest of Planck's long life. This adds a suspense that I haven't encountered a lot in non-fiction. However, there is also a downside. Some facts were repeated a couple of times too much which made it a bit repetitive.

Would recommend though.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Ramon · Rating 5 out of 5]

[First off, full disclosure. I am a friend of the author and co-wrote a song inspired by the book with him. That said, it's not often I read something and think, "Wow, I need to write a song about this!" This just happened to be one of those cases.]

I can't speak for those better versed in physics or those who are already familiar with Planck's story but as a lay person whose familiarity with Planck before reading this book was negligible, I found this to be thoroughly engaging. It opened up an entire new world for me and enhanced my knowledge of not only Planck's work but also the time in which he lived.

I suspect folks aren't interested in spoilers (and there are some real good ones in here) so I'll cover the three big questions I 'd expect people have. How understandable is the science? How engaging is it as a biography? Would there be things that I find stylistically off putting?

The "sciencey" parts are clearly playing to a broad audience and for someone like me, this is perfect. Brown avoids jargon when possible and uses clear and concise language to explain not just the hard science but also, because science does not happen (figuratively speaking) in a vacuum, what was happening in the world that led to those discoveries and insights. That ability to place the science in a context is something I really enjoyed and I'd suspect most folks would too.

As to the biographical side, Planck comes off as a curious and engaging figure who was full of contradictions: at times he possessed a dexterous mind while at others he proved to be stubborn or consider the fact that while he was dismissive of the Nazi regime, he was willing to work within the system. When it comes to Planck's personal choices and motivations, Brown is very good at helping you understand Planck as a person who found himself swept up in the advancement of science and the bloody march of history. Flawed, brilliant, and tragic, Planck comes across as entirely human and relatable.

As for the last question. Well, I can think of two curious choices that may or may not put off some readers so I think it fair to discuss them. The first is the choice to jump forward and backwards in the narrative timeline. This does at times come off as a bit jarring but at the same time this gives the book an interesting energy about it that I personally enjoyed. Similarly, there are times where the book dabbles in a bit of speculation. For example, a chapter is devoted to books Planck might have read. It is a bit of an strange device at first but the purpose of elucidating Planck's world through books proves to be surprisingly enlightening and clever. Honestly, I'd consider these mere stylistic quibbles.

Overall the book bounces with a love for its subject and that energy radiates off the page. So, yes, a good read indeed.

[Bob Finch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short but powerful biography of Max Planck provides rare intimate insight into an extraordinary individual. Written by a physicist with a clear understanding of Planck's contributions to science, the author also conveys deep sympathy for Planck's life, loves and tragic struggles, even while acknowledging Planck's complex, and at times conflicting, allegiances.

I have read Planck's lectures on Physics and his Treatise on Thermodynamics, and have long appreciated his seminal contribution to Quantum Mechanics. But I never knew of the man's personal life. Brown's excellent contribution goes a very long way to fill that gap. And the way it is presented is both unique and captivating, using each chapter to drill into key aspects of Planck's scientific contributions, friendships and family history. That Brown accomplishes this in fewer than 200 pages is a feat of rare clarity and concision that I think even Max Planck would find impressive (he being a paragon of such skill).

[Dean Rader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of biographies, nor do I read a lot of books about science, but this is one of those rare science biographies that transcends both categories. It is smart, accessible, and gripping. Brandon R. Brown does a remarkable job fleshing out the nuances and complexities of one of the most important (but in this country under-appreciated) figures of the 20th century. It is a great book.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding and very readable biography of Max Planck and his times by Brandon R. Brown, a professor of physics at the University of San Francisco. Planck's Blackbody Radiaton Law will be familiar to any student of radiation physics or thermodynamics as well as Planck's constant, the Planck length, Planck time in addition to other major contributions. Perhaps most important was a December 1900 paper presented the German Physical Society in which he recognized that the energy of radiation from a black body must be related to its frequency (E=hf, where E is the photon's energy, h is Planck's universal constant and f is the frequency of the EM radiation). He wrote that "the most essential point of the whole calculation" was that energy would be emitted in chunks of radiation, hf. According to the author this was the (italics) conception moment for quantum theory, with a granular treatment for energy. Like most key scientific breakthroughs quantum theory can be said to have many fathers (and mothers) and while Planck deserves enduring credit, it was surprise!-Einstein who may deserve much of the credit in one of his 1905 papers. These concepts and others are of course discussed throughout the book but in a very accessible way. But this book is also very much about the man and the arc of his life. Planck was born in 1858 when Newtonian physics stood unchallenged as model of how the physical world was understood. He died in 1947 by which time relativity, quantum mechanics and nuclear science had changed almost everything. He lifetime also closely mirrored the rise and cataclysmic fall of Germany and German science along with it. His predecessors, contemporaries and successors include a veritable Who's Who among the world of German physics--including von Hemholtz, Hertz, Boltzmann, Meitner, Born, Schrodinger, Hahn, Einstein, Heisenberg and others. In 1900 German physics and several branches of science were considered preeminent in the world with Planck one of the luminaries. The combination of the two world wars and the Nazi war on Jewry combined to erase much of that legacy. It is a fascinating and awful story and told through the life of Planck quite tragic. He lost all four of children, one to WW1 (Verdun) and another, Erwin hanged by the Nazis in the revenge over plot to kill Hitler. Planck remained in Germany now an old man through the horrors of war and died shortly after. His reputation was perhaps somewhat tattered by having remained in Nazi Germany but he was never a Nazi 'supporter'. I suppose the perfect among us can say we would have acted differently under those circumstances. Anway, it is cool that the European Space Agency space telescope mission (2009-2013) was named for Max Planck. Among many other space properties, it was used to verify the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), measurements of which in an earlier mission were found to match Planck's black-body spectrum radiation equation perfectly. 4.5 stars, rounded up!

[Mike Augustine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book that handles the dual difficulty of representing Plank the man and his life with the stated limitations brought about by the destruction of most of the potential physical biographic elements due to WWII, and his contributions to physics without undue reliance on the reader being a physicist to appreciate these. I found the chapter titles, which range between 1943-1945, to be misleading as, thankfully, the actual narrative covers a much larger portion of his 89 year life and its triumph, struggles, and choices. Additionally and importantly many notable scientists (and their contributions) and others whom Plank intersected with are covered by association.

[Angie Reisetter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a copy of this from Net Galley.

In summarizing what most of us know about Planck, Brown described my knowledge pretty accurately. I'm a physicist, so I know about his most famous scientific work. And that he had a moustache. That's about it. Most people don't even know that. But he led a fascinating life, both scientifically and historically. His legacy is problematic because he chose to stay in Germany through the Third Reich, famously pledging his allegiance to it in 1933 when so many scientists, including Einstein, were fleeing. But he also never really accepted Nazi ideas, so it's a complicated story of trying to change the system from the inside, or maybe just clinging to the idea that science is completely separate from politics, despite all the evidence to the contrary, or maybe just plain cowardice. Or some combination of the above. But mainly it's a story of a man who saw himself as German and could imagine leaving, believing that this craziness must pass, if he could only last until then.

Einstein credited Planck with being the originator of quantum mechanics, and although not every agrees with that singular characterization, certainly he was crucial to the development of that branch of physics. Planck was already established and serving as a journal editor when Einstein was writing his early papers, and Planck could credibly be said to have discovered Einstein (though surely this was inevitable). Planck was also famous for championing the career of the young Lise Meitner, who was an early nuclear physics theorist, narrowly missing out on the Nobel Prize (but she does have an element named after her). When quantum mechanics was the hot new thing, enthusiastically developed by a group of physicists in their 20s at a breakneck speed, Planck was a well-known voice calling out for caution and conservatism, the old guard questioning the difficult ideas of the new. He died in 1947 at the advanced age of 89. This is remarkable, especially considering where and when he lived: he survived WWI and the starvation associated with it, the terrible economic times of the 1920s, and the rise of the Third Reich and subsequent WWII with all of its bombings. He buried a wife and four adult children: two daughters who died after childbirth from poor nutrition and health associated with hard times, one son killed on the battlefields of WWI, and one son who was executed by Hitler's regime for his supporting role in the 1944 attempt on Hitler's life. His remaining child, shared with his second wife, got stuck behind the Iron Curtain in Berlin after the war.

The book is full of delightful stories. It is not what I would call a historical biography, though. Usually historical biographies are concerned with the timeline of the subject's life, and Brown seems to have much more concern for the relationships and ideas in Planck's life than a straight development of events in any sense of the word. The chapters begin during WWII, near the end of Planck's life, beginning with the trial of his son and ending not long after the end of the war. A very short timeline indeed. The rest of his story is told as asides, almost. Not flashbacks per se, but background. In the first few chapters, a complete outline of Planck's life appears, although hung with few details and little explanation. Then, as the chapters proceed, Brown goes back and fills in pieces of this outline, here and there, as it suits him thematically. We end up with a pretty good picture of Planck's life, but the story-telling can be a bit jarring. It is as if a very knowledge-able person sat down to tell the story of Planck and WWII, but kept getting distracted. Also, the reader should have some sort of historical scaffolding to fit these details into: some recognition of early physicists' names, the names of the principal players in the Third Reich and principle events of the wars, and some German history. The book is not long on context.

Brown, then, does not tell stories like a historian, in context and in a straight line. But he does tell stories like a scientist, with a focus on ideas and relationships. And he's quite good at explaining the necessary basic science, including relativity and quantum mechanics.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this book. But I would principally recommend it to readers who already have a working understanding of the history of this era, and wish to fit Planck's story into that era. I'm not sure that my undergraduate students would be ready for this book. Not because the science is advanced, but because the history is not fully fleshed out.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really helped me understand why I'm always seeing references to "Max Planck Institute" this or that or some space exploration satellite. At first glance, the book appeared to be limited to just a couple years during World War II, but the author uses the events of those several months to structure a biography back to his birth in 1858, his career, family life, and political difficulties both with the scientific community and the Nazis. The worst months came after July 1944 when this suffering 86-year old devoted family man had to deal with his son's arrest as a conspirator in the plot to kill Hitler. Flashback to happier days for each chapter build a picture of his contributions to the emerging field of mathematical, rather than laboratory-based, physics. He was one of the earliest champions of the young Einstein, and the book also gives insight into Einstein as it explores their friendship and Planck's defense of "Jewish Physics" as the right-wing Anti-Semitic scientists attacked. He seemed vulnerable himself, going to Sweden to visit Lise Meitner, a good friend and Jewish refugee from Hitler's Austria, and giving addresses that urged scientific acceptance regardless of race or background. I felt great sympathy for Planck as a person and what he went through with other family members as well, and great respect for his work. The author tries himself to understand how Planck could have remained so loyal to Germany while so committed to unprejudiced science. By today's standards we might wish he could have been 100% in opposition to the Nazis, but the book presents a very human person.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this biography of Max Planck, Brandon Brown weaves a spellbinding tale of both genius and naivete. Each chapter starts during the war, World War Two, then flashes back to an earlier period as a way of juxtaposing both Planck's drive (from his youth and middle age) and the process of being broken during the war. While this style may initially seem strange it is very effective and after a few chapters it creates a flow of its own. The discussions of science and math are kept at a sufficient level to understand why some of the ideas were considered bizarre if not outright insane but the discussions don't get bogged down in the science or math to the point that the book becomes about Planck's science rather than his life. Those elements, his science and his life, are both highlighted and brought together to create the sum which is Planck's legacy.

I highly recommend this book for those interested in the human side of scientific discovery as well as those interested in World War Two. The writing is strong and keeps the reader interested, so I also believe this would be enjoyable for someone who simply likes reading a good biography.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Gary Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: My wife was Brandon's 2nd grade teacher and I worked with his father at NASA. As an engineer I was very aware of Max Plank - more specifically Plank's constant, but had little knowledge of the man. Brandon has written a beautiful story of Dr. Plank and in the process a comprehensive story of physics at the turn of the 20th century. He is very fair with Plank and we see a very intelligent open minded man with some nationalistic faults. This is actually a story of all the the physics greats of this time period, but Plank comes out on top. His relationship with Albert Einstein is revealing and his support of his Jewish co-scientists is eye opening. Brandon reveals Max Plank as an extraordinary scientist and an extraordinary man. This is a great read even if you are not a technical professional.

[Ed Terrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I am remiss in delaying my reviews and it is usually because the book deserves far more than what I can meagerly provide. Brown is both a physicist and a great writer. He is able to bring you back to that time of discovery so that you can experience it yourself. In a way, its like walking through time with the greatest minds on the planet. Not to be missed!

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable to read about a scientist who was also a decent man.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Planck by Brandon Brown follows the life of Max Planck and his discoveries in physics to the end of World War II where he watched his beloved Germany collapse around him and his son executed as a traitor. Often towing the middle road politically, he never joined the Nazi party but would expel Einstein and other Jews from the German Science organizations at the behest of the Nazi’s. His discovery of Einstein and belief that he was right led Planck to elevate him when others dismissed him. Planck’s discoveries in his own right were impressive and well explained here. This book does an excellent job of going between the physics and the history of the time looking at how he interacted with the Nazi’s. Overall a great read if you want to learn more about the development of physics in the 21st century or how the Nazi’s interacted with their scientific establishment. A very well done book by a person who knows his subject matter.

[Jurbler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow wow.

Such a good book, filled with page turning scientific and political intrigue along with personal triumph and tragedy.
One of the true titans of the field of physics that was at the epicenter of an explosion of progress.

It certainly was interesting reading this in the same year that I read Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, as well as the year that Oppenheimer was released in theaters. The story of Germany's rise and downfall during this period is certainly fascinating.

He was able to witness such extreme change in his life, it's hard to even think what similar advancements would look like today

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less focus on science than I expected (and wanted), a lot of focus on the historical context, on Planck’s role as an ambassador for science both to society and the government(s). Enlightening not only with respect to Planck as a person, and his impact on science, but also with regards to the mood (at least in scientific circles), around and during the two world wars. The structure of the book was a bit tiring at times, with a lot of jumping between the “present” 1943-1945 and different points in the past, at different moments in different chapters. Still a very good and illuminating book.

[Sey Dou · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to this book with a lot of affection for the subject but outside of his scientific role and his work I knew little.

If he were alive, I would just hug him.

This book is revelatory and worth a read even more so if you are partial to biographies and absolutely essential if, like yours truly, you skew to math nerd.

[Michael M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an astonishing book about an astonishing man. One of the most startling things is the portrayal of what it must have been like to live in Germany in the first half of the twentieth century.

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Max Planck, the physicist who started the quantum revolution, is a fascinating character, poised as he was between nineteenth century science and the transformation wrought by relativity and quantum theory in the twentieth century. In this new biography of Planck, physicist Brandon Brown provides genuine insights into Planck, the man.

This isn't primarily the standard form of a scientific biography. The book does, of course, mention Planck's science, but it doesn't focus on giving us an in-depth understanding of entropy, blackbody radiation and the emergence of the quantum. What we have here is a study of Planck as a human being, family man and conflicted nationalist who found the Nazi Party, with whom he reluctantly collaborated in, for instance, the removal of Jewish scientists from German academia, uncomfortable and unsophisticated bedfellows.

What the book does well - better than any other book on Planck that I have read - is fill in the detail of his family life, both the positive, loving side and the disasters that saw Planck lose his first wife and all four of the children they had together, from eldest son dying in the First World War to his favourite Erwin, killed by the Nazis for possible involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler. We see a loving family, at odds with Planck's old-fashioned stiffness in public affairs. And Brown does not hold back from some of the oddity of that family life - the way, for instance, his son-in-law married one of Planck's daughters, then married her twin when the first daughter died (only for the twin to die too). Or what might now raise an eyebrow or two when Planck married his wife's niece soon after his first wife died.

However there are some issues with the approach. The science isn't particularly well explained, not helped by a tendency to overuse florid similes. Planck's letter to Hitler, trying to prevent his son's execution, for instance, is described as being 'like a pick to the mountainside, his best shot to halt a steep slide.' Although the writing style is mostly light and approachable (sometime a little too colloquial, such as in the irritating habit of using 'passed' instead of 'died') the readability of the book is reduced by the jumpiness of the timeline. The first three chapters focus on 1944, 1905 and 1943 respectively. As Brown continues, each chapter then tends to start in 1944, gradually heading towards Erwin, the son's execution, but then in the body of the chapter jumps around all over the place chronologically.

I understand the urge to avoid writing a biography steadily along the timeline, as this can seem a little dull. But this attempt goes too far the other way with far too much flashing back, forwards and for all I know sideways. It's bad enough in any biography, but where there's science involved such a fluid chronology makes it harder to follow the development of the scientific content. The approach just didn't work for me.

Overall, certainly very interesting on Planck as a character. I think his role in Nazi physics is best captured by putting it alongside others as we see in Philip Ball's Serving the Reich, though Brown does an excellent job of bringing out the inner struggle between Planck's powerful love of the Fatherland and the difficulties he had with what was happening around him and to Jewish friends like Einstein. However, I can't rate the book any higher for the reasons mentioned above.

[Robin Tierney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over my head, but it's an interesting account of a brilliant and forward-focused, resilient man and the wartime in which he thrived intellectually despite persecution. Details his relationship with Einstein, physics breakthroughs and struggles with the Gestapo.

Just some random notes:
Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken By War
Brandon R. Brown
Max Planck
Physicist
Fingerprints of the Big Bang, radiation emanating from everything in the universe, background signal.
Our understanding of the building blocks and the structure of matter trace directly to Planck’s work.
And the energy in matter.
Father of quantum theory.
Entropy = relevant for diagnostics from car engines to black holes.
Not better known b/c his correspondence, docs etc destroyed with his home in WWII.
Son on trial for bombing Nazis
Zeal
born 1858
Worked with women, Lise Meitner.
Learned early that an academic career required more than hard work and concentration.
Decried for Jewish friends.
Hamburg bombing killed many but barely affected German war production 14%.

Entropy - heat energy...warm objects express lower entropy changes than cold objects. First law of thermodynamics.
You can never go home again, neither can objects and machines (energy).
He proposed universal theories and thought of interest to all, not just elites.

Surface temp of stars using his curve.
Black holes, mechanics and electromagnetism.
Teacher, Editor...of young Einstein, who publicly severed ties with G when Hitler rose to power 1933.
Planck allowed no time to despair.

Study of wartime Germany and anti-semitism and Einstein’s trajectory.
A band of murderers came to dictate the scientific program of a purely scientific body.

1913 Einstein knew he had walked into sacred theoretical turf - gravity had been the dominion of Sir Isaac Newton for nearly 2 ½ centuries.

Planck’s reaction to Einstein’s idea of an “energy quantum” for light is intriguing. He thought Einstein made a rash rookie mistake.

Q theory
Many dismissed disparaged as deluded E followers.
Glacial progress.

Neils Bohr new vision of the atom.

1945 Gestapo executed son Erwin by hanging.

US after WWII.
Horrified Hiroshima.
As MP reached his last years, physicists stood like shamans for a nuclear age.
Daily piano time.
Seeking truth enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him.

[Phil Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the apparent paradoxes that occurs in the study of the very small (quantum mechanics) or the very fast (relativity) is that time does not progress forward in the usual way. Sometimes this is a good thing, as in the movie Memento, where each subsequent scene in the movie tells what happened just before the scene you just watched. At the end of the film (that is, the earliest point of the story) all is made clear.

Time also gets jumbled in the pages of Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War, but without the same payoff. Brandon R. Brown starts his story late in World War II, at the end of Planck’s long life, and paints a detailed portrait of what toll a combination of misfortune, two world wars, and political posturing had taken on the man. When the story jumped back to his upbringing in the late 1800s I thought we were through with time travel. Not so: Planck travels back and forth between the early years of the 20th century and the late years of World War II at least a dozen times. In some cases, when the discussion focused on some wartime activity, I had to back up and remind myself which war we were in. The high point of my confusion occurred when I read the following, “One moment, she would have been happily nursing her one-week-old baby, Grete Marie Fehling, and then the quiet would burst with sudden symptoms: elusive breaths, a violent new cough, and chest pains. She died there in Berlin, with Max Planck nearby, and the family placed her ashes in the Grunewald cemetery.” Now, with all sincerity I ask you, who died? This example also hints at the style of speculation that is peppered throughout Planck. I appreciate the honesty and frustration of the author when we simply don’t know what was said, or how the subject felt at a point in his life. Other authors have found ways to tell an intriguing story – and this is certainly an intriguing story – with more artifice.

[Rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life-and-times books must be hard to write, especially if the content is complex, as it is here. Max Planck was a German scientist who famously derived the Planck radiation law among many other achievements. He also had the misfortune to live though turbulent times in Germany, including two world wars, with catastrophic consequences to his family.

The author has chosen to organize the two main strains of content independent of time. Chapters are titled as months during World War II. However there are temporal jumps back to the 1890's (Planck's peak scientifically), 1920's and 30's (during which Planck was the most prominent German physicist and head of the premier research institute), and other times. It is often hard to follow, especially since there is not chapter organization to mark such transitions. Still, it seems to work fairly well.

On the technical side, the author, a physicist himself, does a good job of describing the nature of Planck's contributions. He leaves the more detailed explanation of black body radiation to he appendix. His explanation is among the best I've read, breaking the Planck law into components.

His treatment in the main section suffers somewhat from a superficial treatment of black body radiation in which he seems to believe that black body radiation is fundamentally different from, say, atomic transitions.

Recommended for everyone and especially for physical scientists.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

An engaging biography that sheds plenty of light on its subject while simultaneously explaining complex scientific concepts through straightforward language and clever analogies. Particularly delightful are the snapshots it includes from the world of German intelligentsia which Planck inhabited--such as that he was neighbors, at one point, with Adolf von Harnack. (Planck's son and von Harnack's son later languished together, before the former's execution, in a Gestapo prison.) Yet the book is also a largely unconvincing attempt to rehabilitate Planck by making a distinction between Planck the scientist and Planck the citizen. Grasping at straws and strawmen in its flimsy efforts to exculpate Planck (and many of his German colleagues), it fails to seriously engage the question of where personal responsibility ends and complicity begins.

[Mark Schenk · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into the private life of one of last century's greatest scientists. Also interesting for the relationship of Germany's scientific community with the German government in the period spanning WWI and WWII.

[Ludwig]

very good book but I didn't read too much when I took it with me back to China, unfortunately.