Planck, Max

[person]

Theoretical physicist, born in Kiel, Germany (1858–1947), who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918 for his research on quantum theory. Through his study of thermodynamics, Planck devised the theory that energy did not flow continuously, but was radiated in packets called quanta. Albert Einstein applied Planck's quantum theory to the photoelectric effect, while Niels Bohr applied the theory to the atom.