What makes this book by Max Planck - one of the fathers of modern physics (Nobel Prize in Physics 1918) - invaluable is that he presents his entire world view - from the nature of scientific theories (how "the world image," given by a scientific theory, relates to "the world of the senses") to the origin of scientific ideas to the growth of scientific knowledge to the role of causality in science to the interaction between science and philosophy and faith and even to the issue of why "a suitable planning of school teaching is one of the most important conditions of progress in science." A wide range of readers can benefit from reading this book - from experts and students in science and philosophy (who will be exposed to a world view that made Planck one of the greatest physicists of all time) to everyone interested in science and philosophy because the book is written for a wide audience.
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame rests primarily on his role as originator of the quantum theory. This theory revolutionized human understanding of atomic and subatomic processes, just as Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity revolutionized the understanding of space and time. Together they constitute the fundamental theories of 20th-century physics.