percorsi

Max Planck - A conservative

revolutionary
Manuel Cardona and Werner Marx
Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
Stuttgart, Germany

1 Brief Biography

Max Planck has a deeply

moving biography. He was
not only one of the creators
of modern Physics but also
witness and actor of the
most fateful events of the
20th century. Interwoven with
these historic vicissitudes
is his rather tragic personal
life, having lost four of his
five children, two of them
through violence, the others,
identical twins, in the aftermath of
childbirth. His biographic literature is
rather copious, starting with a scientific
Celebrating the 150 Anniversary of
autobiography [1]. We refer here to the other the father of Quantum Mechanics:
biographical works we have used, in particular the theory that brought in a
the investigations of the science historian Dieter conceptual revolution in the study
Hoffmann [2-7]. We shall only mention some of the of Nature and a radical change in
numerous short biographical accounts appeared in the description of its phenomena.
scientific journals and the general press when appropriate.
For the sake of conciseness, we give Plancks biography in
tabular form.

1858 Born April 23, 1858 in Kiel as the fourth child of the lawyer Johann Julius Wilhelm
Planck and his wife Emma ne Patzig. In his Lutheran baptismal record his name appears as
Marx (sic) Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck. He published under the name of Max Planck but in the
Web of Science he appears 12 times cited as MKE Planck.
1867 The family moves to Munich where his father had been appointed professor of law.
Max attends the Maximilian gymnasium and soon distinguishes himself as one of the better
students, in particular in religion and mathematics but also in languages. He makes friends
with children of the upper bourgeoisie. His teachers attest him not only extraordinary
intelligence but also impeccable behavior. He enjoys playing music, in particular the organ

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during religious services.
1874 At the age of 16, he obtains the high school degree that allows him to enter the
university. During the winter term he attends the philosophy faculty of the University
of Munich, undecided as to what further course to take. He enjoys listening to lectures
in Mathematics, but decides to concentrate on Physics. He sings in the university choir,
composes, acts at operetta performances and enjoys student life.
1876 He composes an operetta under the title (in translation) Love in the Woods. It is
performed once at a fraternity. The score and text have been lost.
1877 Takes off in the spring for a hiking tour of Northern Italy with three classmates, visiting
Venice, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Pavia, Brescia and the lakes. Travels by boat across the lakes
and enjoys Bellagio, Villa Carlotta and Isola Madre; lengthy conversations with his travel mates
about science, religion and their world picture, in which his conservative views often clashed
with those of his friends, including Carl Runge who later became famous as a mathematician.
1877-1878 During the winter term he attends the Friedrich Wilhelms University of Berlin
(which would later become his home as a teacher for almost 50 years). He listens to lectures
by the famous physicists Helmholtz and Kirchhoff but is not particularly impressed by them:
the first is too sloppy, the second too polished for his taste. In October 1878 he returns to
Munich and takes an exam that qualifies him as a high school teacher. He substitutes for his
former teacher in mathematics at the Maximilian Gymnasium.
1879 He obtains a doctoral degree with a dissertation on the second principle of
thermodynamics. He regrets not to have had a real mentor in this important phase of his
academic career.
1880 Only one year after his doctoral degree, he obtains his habilitation (certification of his
ability to teach at a university) with a thesis about equilibrium states of isotropic bodies. At
present such procedure in Germany takes three or more years. It confers the academic title
of Privatdozent, making the holder a member of the faculty, without pay, till he receives a
formal offer (Ruf ) as a tenured associate professor (extraordinarius). Thus Planck continued
to live with his parents. The first such Ruf came from a forestry academy which would not
have enabled him to do creative research. He turned it down. While waiting for the Ruf he
produced a few publications based on thermodynamics. They appeared in the Annalen der
Physik, a journal which he helped to mold as editor from 1906 till 1928.
1885 He receives, from the University of Kiel, an offer of a position which was first meant
for Heinrich Hertz. Hertz, however, turned it down and accepted an offer from the Technical
University of Karlsruhe, which came together with large and well appointed experimental
facilities. The Kiel offer then went to Max Planck, number two in the list. Planck spends some
time writing an essay about the essence of energy in order to apply for an award offered by
the Gttingen University. He finishes it in Kiel and is granted the second prize (the first was
not given, apparently because of a controversy between Helmholz and Weber, a Gttingen
professor, in which Planck had sided with the former).
1887 Having stabilized his personal situation, he marries, on March 31, his fiance Marie
Merck, daughter of a well known Munich banker and sister of a high school mate. Within a
year, their first child, Karl, is born. Planck publishes in the Annalen der Physik three papers on
the ever increasing entropy which have received significant attention (48 citations as a whole,
last cited in 1996).
1889 Planck receives a Ruf as extraordinarius and successor of Gustav Kirchhoff in Berlin.
Again the offer had gone before to Heinrich Hertz who had become famous in Karlsruhe
through his discovery of electromagnetic waves. Hertz, however, preferred a parallel offer
from Bonn. Planck accepts the prestigious offer from Berlin.
1889 In April he takes up his new position in Berlin. Two daughters, Emma and Grete, identical
twins, are born.
1890 He publishes two articles in the Annalen der Physik on thermal and electrical phenomena
in electrolytes. They have become his two most-cited articles (279 and 266 times respectively,

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 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

cited together 4 times in 2008 and 7 times in 2007, almost 120 years after publication).
1892 He is promoted to ordinarius in Berlin.
1893 Son Erwin, executed by the Nazis in January 1945, is born.
1895 Somewhat disenchanted by the poor impact of his earlier work, he takes up the hot
topic of black-body radiation, an outstanding problem of thermodynamics, electromagnetic
theory and industrial physics.
1900 In October 19 he announces his black-body radiation law as an empirical equation
which accounts for the most precise extant measurements. In December 14 he presents, as
an act of desperation, a theoretical derivation of that law using his hypothesis of energy
quantization. Many historians feel that this work signals the birth of modern physics.
1905-1910 He comes out in support of Einsteins special Theory of relativity. He writes
several articles on the topic. One of them the dynamics of bodies in motion has been cited
nearly 100 times, three times in 2008.
1909 He lectures at Columbia University in New York City. His wife of 22 years, Marie, dies of a
lung ailment, leaving him with four adolescent children.
1911 On March 14 he marries 24 years younger Marga von Hoesslin, Maries niece. In
December their son Hermann is born. Nothing much is known about Hermann. He
participated in the German campaign against Russia as an enlisted man, returned as an
Obergefreiter (pfc) and died of polio in 1954. In October 1911 Planck attends the first Solvay
conference, dealing with the theory of radiation and quanta.
1912 He is appointed permanent secretary (equivalent to president) of the Prussian Academy
of Sciences, a position he held till his resignation in 1938 (at the age of 80).
1913 Planck is elected rector of the University of Berlin and is instrumental in bringing
Einstein to positions in the Academy, the newly founded Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) of
Physics and the Berlin University.
1914 Einstein arrives at Berlin in April. The first world war starts on August 1. Plancks sons Karl
and Erwin enroll in the Army. Planck, together with 93 well known German intellectuals, signs
the notorious manifesto to the Kulturwelt blaming the Belgians for all sorts of atrocities,
justifying the violation of Belgian neutrality and proclaiming the unity of German militarism
and culture. Planck later realized its devastating effect on international scientific relations. In
June 1915, when the going was rough, he signed a statement by 1347 intellectuals trying to
explain the manifesto and in 1916 wrote a letter stating that, in spite of the war, international
scientific relations were by all means to be preserved. Most of Einsteins colleagues, including
Jewish ones, had signed the infamous Kulturwelt document but Einstein did not. Together
with a close friend he wrote a counter-appeal saying that the document was unworthy of
what until now the whole world has understood by culture. He hardly found any cosigners
but the document was finally published in Switzerland (Einstein had a Swiss passport).
Plancks sons Karl and Erwin became army officers, to the pleasure of Max who expected from
them great heroic deeds. Erwin is severely wounded in the battle of the Marne and taken
prisoner of war.
1916 Son Karl is killed in action in Verdun on May 26. Max expresses, in a rather Wagnerian
way, sorrow and pride concerning Karls heroic death in the service of the fatherland, the
emperor and God. Karl never got along well with his father who finds solace in the fact that
the Army had made a useful man out of him.
1917 Maxs daughter Grete dies of childbirth on May 15, a baby daughter survives. Under
the auspices of the Red Cross Erwin is interned in Switzerland. On October 1 Max becomes a
member of the board of directors of the recently founded Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics.
1918 The war ends with Germanys defeat, the Kaisers abdication and the proclamation of the
republic, all facts that compound Maxs personal tragedies. His Weltbild collapses but he is
able to find solace in helping rebuild German science. Max had been considered for the Nobel
Prize in Physics since 1907 and regularly till 1919, the year in which he was belatedly given the
prize which had not been awarded in 1918. He had been nominated a total of 75 times.

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1919 Daughter Emma, after marrying her widowed brother in law, dies in November 21 in the
process of childbirth. A daughter also survives. Max is belatedly granted the 1918 Nobel Prize
in recognition of the services he rendered to the advancement of physics by the discovery
of the energy quanta. He joins the Deutsche Volkspartei, a liberal (in economic matters)
nationalistic party, the right wing of the Nationalliberale Partei founded by Gustav Stresemann
(co-winner of the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize and Chancellor during the Weimar Republic).
1920 In the Midsummer of 1920 (sic) he officially receives the 1918 Nobel Prize in Stockholm,
together with his colleague Fritz Haber (Chemistry, also 1918) and the ultranationalist
Johannes Stark (Physics, 1919) who was later to become a rabid anti-Semitic Nazi. He
continues publishing about two low profile articles a year, not surprising in view of his
increasing public service commitments and the fact that he always worked alone: he left no
school. His personal tragedies and tragic political events must also have made a dent.
1926 Max is elected a member of the ancient (founded in 1652) Academie der Naturforscher
Leopoldina. In 2008 the Leopoldina became the German Academy of Sciences.
1927 He becomes emeritus at the Berlin University on October 1 and is succeeded by Erwin
Schrdinger.
1929 Planck and Einstein become the first awardees of the Max Planck Medal of the German
Physical Society, created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his doctorate.
1930 He becomes President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (KWG) till July 25, 1938 and,
with his other public service appointments, the most influential person in German science.
1933 Without a majority of his Nazi party (NSDAP) in parliament Adolf Hitler is appointed
Reichskanzler (Prime Minister) on January 30. On February 27 the Reichstag burns. On
February 28 the parliament approves a decree suspending basic rights. Murders of presumed
enemies of the NSDAP start. On March 6, new elections in which the NSDAP gets 44% of
the votes, not enough to form a government. On March 24 the parliament approves the
Ermchtigungsgesetz (with the votes of all parties except communists and socialists) enabling
Hitler to rule by decree. The atrocities increase. Plancks point of view is that it is a transient
situation needed to restore order, after a while the situation will settle down like in the case
of natural catastrophes. On April 7 the law for the restoration of the professional civil service
is approved by decree. According to it, university professors would become civil servants but
ethnic Jews (religion played little or no role) were excluded from the civil service (with few
exceptions, later struck down). Mass expulsions of non-Aryan professors and other prominent
dissidents start.
Max Planck was, at the time, vacationing in Italy. Some colleagues asked him to return
immediately to Berlin but he followed the advice of his secretary at the KWG and continued
his vacation. Later he mentioned that he was happy to see that the new law was put into
effect without any incidents. The law was, by the way, similar to the disposition in the Italian
racial laws of 1938, which also barred students with the wrong ethnicity from attending public
schools and universities. Before Planck left for vacation, Einstein, at the time in the United
States, announced that he would not return to Germany where there was no longer civil
liberty, tolerance, and equality of the citizens before the law. He sent in his resignation from
the Prussian Academy. Planck, always willing to compromise, wrote to him By your efforts
your racial and religious brethren will not get relief from their situation, which is already
difficult enough, but they will be pressed even more. He added that the value of an act lies
not in its motives but in its consequences. The mass exodus started, the KWG being in a
somewhat better shape than universities because of having positions paid by industry and
being able to keep Jews of non-German citizenship (e.g., Lise Meitner). By and large no protest
from Aryan colleagues was heard.
On May 17 Planck was granted an audience with Hitler to discuss this and, as we now know,
other matters. At the end of a long and apparently satisfactory conversation on the future of
science and the KWG, he asked Hitler not to dismiss highly competent non-Aryan scientists.
He mentioned that there were two kinds of Jews, those beneficial and those pernicious to the

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 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

German society and that one should differentiate. Hitler went into one of his rages and said
that the Jews themselves should do that and that for him Jews were all the same Planck
stood up and took leave. This story, carefully manicured, has been mentioned in Germany for
years as one of the few proofs of the existence of an opposition and of Max Plancks integrity.
Nowadays we know that matters were not as simple.
1935 A memorial service was organized in Berlin a year after the death of Fritz Haber. Haber,
a Jewish (ethnic but baptized) Nobel laureate, who had invented the ammonia synthesis, was
not dismissed as a director of his KWI on the formal grounds of his merits in the first world war.
He, however, would have to implement the dismissal of Jewish colleagues, which he refused
to do. Instead he chose emigration. Attendance of state employees to Habers memorial
service was forbidden by the minister of education who, however, left open the possibility of
asking for a special dispensation. Planck and also Otto Hahn, in what has been portrayed as
an act of defiance, attended the service without any subsequent sanctions. The fact that many
foreign dignitaries were present, among them representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation,
which was negotiating the funding of a new building for the KWI of Physics, reduces the
impact of the act of defiance which Plancks attendance to Habers memorial service has been
told to represent.
1937 At the age of 79, Planck leaves the presidency of the KWG. He is succeeded by Carl Bosch
(Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, 1931) till the latters death in 1940. Bosch often confronted
the NSDAP hacks, sometimes inebriated. His successor from 1941 was Albert Vgler, an
executive of a large steel conglomerate. While not a member of the NSDAP he certainly was a
sympathizer and financial supporter, having been elected to parliament in 1933 on an NSDAP
ticket. While not fully compliant to the Nazi hierarchy, he heavily compromised. He poisoned
himself while being arrested at his home in 1945. We have found no scientific works of Vgler,
who succeeded two Nobel laureates as KWG President and was succeeded by two more.
1938 On the occasion of Plancks 80th birthday Louis de Broglie is awarded the Max Planck
Medal. The KWI for Physics, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, is inaugurated under the
directorship of Peter Debye, a Dutch Physical-Chemist who even as an Aryan, was forced
to emigrate in 1940. Debye had proposed to name his Institute after Max Planck but Nazi
members opposed him. So, it remained the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics. Lise Meitner,
a co-discoverer of nuclear fission and a close friend of the Plancks, had to leave Germany in a
cloak-and-dagger operation: she was an Austrian ethnic Jew (nevertheless baptized) who lost
her foreign passport as a result of the Anschluss.
1943 The Plancks leave their endangered home in Berlin and move to a friends house in
Rogtz (Elbe).
1944 Their abandoned home in Berlin-Grunewald is bombed out. Plancks library is destroyed.
1945 Plancks son Erwin is executed as having been involved in the plot to assassinate the
dictator. He had accepted a position in a future cabinet and had participated in drafting a new
constitution. Planck and various associates and friends wrote letters to the highest officials
asking for clemency, to no avail. Erwin, Maxs closest son and friend, was executed on January
23. After straggling with Marga through the woods around Rogtz in the search of food,
they are captured by an American commando and taken to Gttingen, thus avoiding being
captured by the advancing Russians. The English authorities decide to reconstruct the KWG .
Planck (age 87!) is asked to take over, temporarily, its presidency. Once more, he follows the
call of duty.
1946 He is invited (and accepts) to attend the Newton celebrations of the Royal Society in
London. It hurt him that he was introduced as a guest, representing no country (Germany
had ceased to exist). Otto Hahn takes over the presidency of the newly reestablished KWG
whose name is changed to Max Planck Gesellschaft while Max Planck is still alive. Planck
becomes its honorary president. In June he gives his last lecture in Gttingen.
1947 In August he fell and had to be hospitalized. He died in October 1947 and is buried in
Gttingen.

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2 Scientific Work was a careful recapitulation and exegesis of the works of
Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888), who had introduced the concept
Theoretical physics at the end of the 19th century of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. Planck
In the second half of the 19th century, when Planck started his removed some ambiguities and contradictions and extended
academic career, physics was widely seen as an experimental the concept of entropy to irreversible processes and a
endeavor in spite of the early works of Galilei (1564-1642) measure of irreversibility. In his scientific autobiography [1]
and Newton (1643-1727), the first theoretical physicists in Planck discussed the poor impact of his dissertation: None of
the modern sense. Theory was confined to mathematics as my professors at the university had any understanding for its
an ancillary science, e.g., providing interpolation formulae contents. I found no interest, let alone approval, even among
and error statistics for experiments. Experimental physics had the very physicists who were closely connected with the
become the key science within the physics institutes at the topic. Here we also find the famous statement that A new
German universities [4]. The directors were full professors, scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents
leading well equipped empires, the paternalistic structure and making them see the light, but rather because its
of the times giving them the status of monarchs. Associate opponents die and a new generation grows up that is familiar
professors who wanted to avoid conflicts, and eventually with it. Irony of history: He did not immediately see the
be promoted, became active in research fields where less consequences of his most important discovery.
equipment was needed, in particular in theoretical physics. At the start of his career as a researcher (1879) Planck became
Moreover, the more profitable main lectures were given fascinated by the subject of entropy. He was confronted with
by the full professors, whereas special lectures like those the statistical interpretation of Ludwig Boltzmann who had
in theoretical physics were held by associate professors postulated the relationship between microscopic parameters
(receiving much lower tuition fees (Hrergelder) because and the macroscopic properties of matter. At that time,
of the smaller number of students). At the end of the 19th Planck rejected the statistical approach, because, he felt, it
century, there were only two universities with chairs in would contradict the absolute universal validity of the laws
theoretical physics: the Friedrich Wilhelms University in of nature which he strongly believed in. For him, probability
Berlin (Gustav Kirchhoff, 1824-1887), and the University of would imply exceptions from that invariable validity. He
Gttingen (Woldemar Voigt, 1850-1919). At the beginning therefore preferred the macroscopic phenomenological
of the 20th century the situation rapidly changed. The approach of Clausius and Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932) and
development of mathematical physics in the first half of the consequently refused the atomistic view of matter. We should
19th century (Euler, Fourier, Poisson) had already shown the mention here that the famous formula combining entropy
potential of the new discipline. Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894), with probability (S = kB ln W) has not been introduced by
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894), and Ludwig Boltzmann Boltzmann but by Planck, who named kB the Boltzmann
(1844-1906) represent pioneers with a double role in constant. As we shall see later, he even reported the earliest
experimental and theoretical physics. But it was in particular and rather precise determinations of kB. However, Plancks
Max Planck and Albert Einstein (1879-1955), who caused a skepticism about the probability concept and his opposition
breakthrough concerning acceptance and recognition. A to atomism did not wane until he realized its potential for
chair in theoretical physics became no longer a necessary evil a convincing theoretical explanation of the black-body
but an important necessity. radiation.

Thermodynamics Black-body radiation

Beside the time-honored mechanics, electrodynamics (which After Hermann von Helmholtz had introduced the
by then included optics) and thermodynamics were the concept of free energy, Planck applied it to chemical
central basis of physics at the end of the 19th century. There thermodynamics, in particular to the equilibrium of gas
were speculations about nothing less than the unification reactions, a very important discipline for the expanding
of these three fields of physics. The discussion about the chemical industry. Planck soon became one of the leading
hypothetical ether implied the possible unification of experts in thermodynamics. However, the American physicist
mechanics and electrodynamics, while the relationship Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839-1903) had already developed
between mechanics and thermodynamics was clarified on a similar theory of chemical equilibrium. His work was
the basis of statistical physics and the hypothesis that all published in 1876, but was overlooked in Europe and not
matter is composed of atoms. Plancks dissertation at the translated until 1892. The situation differed from that in
University of Munich, where he had studied physics between the present day, the US not having yet become the top
1874 and 1879 (with an intermission of two semesters in nation in science. Although not fully equivalent to his own
Berlin), dealt with the second law of thermodynamics and contributions, Planck recognized the priority of Gibbss work.

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 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

Maybe somewhat frustrated about his lack of a scientific complete texts can be found in ref. [8], Vol. I, pp. 493-600.
breakthrough, Planck turned to the theory of heat radiation. In this endeavor, he now found it convenient to accept
The rapid development of the lighting industry in the last Boltzmanns atomistic point of view and thus relate entropy
decades of the 19th century, and the competition between to disorder in the case of a large set of massive particles (see
electric and gas light, required precise experiments ref. [8], Vol. I, pp. 493-504). In order to reach thermodynamic
and better standards for the luminosity of light sources. equilibrium (a maximum of S) these particles must interact,
Moreover, an understanding of the processes involved in either through collisions with each other or with the
light absorption and emission was needed. For such reasons, container walls. Planck tries next to find parallel concepts
the German industry (in particular Werner von Siemens) and for em waves (their corpuscular aspect had to wait till
the German government established the German bureau of Einsteins 1905 Nobel winning work). He then introduces the
standards, named Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR, concept of natural radiation (incoherent partial waves) as
now PTB), with Hermann von Helmholtz as its first director. opposed to coherent monochromatic waves. Around a given
Its charge was to perform the most accurate measurements wave number one has an infinite number of em waves,
of fundamental constants and to push research on unsolved depending on their propagation direction, polarization,
basic problems in physics. phase, and exact value of . Hence, one can compare a set of
The concept of the black-body radiation had been introduced massive particles to a natural set of em waves of frequency
in 1859 by Kirchhoff who defined a black-body as an object . One must, however, introduce some kind of mechanism to
that absorbs all thermal radiation falling on it. When it is have the em waves interact with each other so as to be able
cold, no radiation is reflected or transmitted and the object to establish equilibrium.
appears black. When it is hot, it becomes an ideal source Planck does that by introducing in a black-body cavity one
of thermal (and also optical) radiation. Several physicists or more small fictitious dipole oscillators which absorb
investigated the spectral distribution of the black-body and reradiate (with an arbitrary direction, polarization, and
radiation. An important contribution was the discovery of frequency if covers a small but finite interval). He first
the Stefan-Boltzmann law, which states that the total energy treats concentric waves with one dipole at the center of
radiated per unit surface area of a black-body in unit time is the cavity. The total energy of the waves and the oscillating
directly proportional to the fourth power of the black-bodys dipole can be easily calculated. At that point he proceeds to
temperature (I ~T 4). The next important step was a discovery postulate (he calls it to define) two functions (one for the
of Wilhelm Wien (1864-1928) in the year 1893, the so-called oscillator, the other for the waves) whose sum, he checks,
displacement law, i.e., the inverse proportionality between invariably increases with time, till a maximum is reached at
the wavelength of the peak in the spectral distribution of the thermodynamic equilibrium. He thus calls these functions
black-body emission and its temperature. Three years later entropy. They enable him to define a temperature T for
(1896) Wien presented a semi-empirical radiation law (Wiens the em waves in equilibrium inside the cavity. From the
energy distribution law) that described well the experimental equilibrium state that maximizes the entropy for a given T he
data available at the time. retrieves Wiens law for the radiation intensity K per unit area,
unit solid angle and frequency interval d:
Enters Max Planck
In 1887 it was generally accepted that thermal and optical ,
radiation were related to electromagnetic waves, as
described by Maxwells equations. The latter, however, were where the two constants a and b are, in present days
time reversal invariant and, as such, alien to the concept of notation: b = h (Plancks constant, which of course he did not
irreversibility as embodied by the thermodynamic concept call so) and a = h/kB. kBwas first called Boltzmanns constant
of entropy. Planck realized that in order to describe black- by Planck. From an analysis with the above equation of
body radiation with Maxwells equations it was necessary to experiments by Lummer, Paschen, Pringsheim, and Wanner,
extend the concept of entropy S to such waves (an inverse Planck derives h = 6.885 1027 erg s and kB = 1.43 1016
temperature would then be obtained as the derivative erg /C, rather close to presently accepted values (the values
of entropy with respect to added thermal energy). He he obtained later using his full radiation law are even closer
thus embarked in a program to rigorously introduce to the accepted ones).
thermodynamics into electrodynamics and electromagnetic In a seminar, given on October 19, 1900 at the German
(em) wave propagation. His initial work was presented in Physical Society (DPG), Ferdinand Kurlbaum reported
great detail and an almost axiomatic way in five lectures significant deviations from Wiens law, in particular at small
he gave at the regular sessions of the Prussian Academy frequencies, of his black-body measurements at the PTR
of Sciences, three in 1897 and two in 1898 and 1899. The together with Heinrich Rubens. In the same session (he had

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received the measured data from Rubens before) Planck bears his name under the assumption that is proportional to
suggested an empirical modification of Wiens law, based on , the proportionality constant being h [13]. Also labeling the
the replacement of e (a/T) by [e (a/T) 1]1. At high values of whole procedure an act of desperation he derived the now
the modified expression coincides with the original one, but famous law
discrepancies appear at low values which better represented
.
the experimental data reported in the same session of the
DPG. This fact led Planck to start a search for a theoretical
explanation of the new (Plancks) radiation law which he Initially, Planck saw his constant as a mathematical
reported at a meeting of the DPG held on December 14, 1900. artifice, from which he hoped to get rid of later or which
This date is considered by many as the beginning of modern could be included somehow into classical physics.
physics. Both lectures were published in the proceedings of Figure 1 demonstrates convincingly the longevity of
the DPG [9-10] (see also ref. [8], Vol. 1, pp. 687-689, pp. 698- Plancks equation, showing a rather impressive fit of recent
706). A summary of these articles appeared in the following experimental data for the cosmic background microwave
year 1901 in the Annalen der Physik [11] (see also ref. [8], Vol. 1, radiation resulting from the big bang, corresponding to T =
pp. 717-727). 2.735 K [14].
The decisive step in this work was the assumption that within It has often been stated that Planck became a revolutionary
a cavity there is a large number N of equal oscillating dipoles against his will. Indeed, between 1901 and 1906 he did not
in equilibrium with the em radiation. He had earlier derived publish anything on black-body radiation and quantization
the relation between the energy of the em field as a function [7]. In the year 1910 he still instructed to proceed as
of that of the oscillators. He further assumes that the energy conservatively as possible in introducing the quantum
of each oscillator is not continuous but actually an integer of action h into the theory, i.e., only those modifications
multiple of a small (quantum of ) energy . He called these should be made to the existing theory as have proven to be
oscillators energy cells and treated them with Boltzmanns absolutely necessary [15]. Plancks presentation of Einstein
statistical methods. This was referred to by Planck as an act of on the occasion of his election as member of the Prussian
desperation in a letter of 1931 to R. W. Wood [12]. Academy of Sciences in 1913 again reveals his conservative
In his lecture at the DPG meeting on December 14, 1900 he attitude when he stated that Einstein in his speculations may
regarded energy as made up of a completely determinate sometimes have gone a bit too far, e.g., with his hypothesis
number of finite equal parts, and for this purpose I use the of the light quanta, but it is difficult to hold this against him.
constant of nature h [9]. He is then able to derive the law that Not surprisingly, in 1908, when Planck became a candidate

FIG 1: Fit of the measured cosmic background microwave radiation with Plancks equation for
T = 2.735 K [14] (reproduced by permission of the AAS). The first author, J.C. Mather, shared
with his colleague G.F. Smoot the 2006 Nobel prize for physics.

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 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

for the Nobel prize, the prize committee decided to wait for a quantization but, like Planck, he had difficulties going a step
final clarification of the relevance of quantization until 1920 further and agreeing with the probabilistic interpretation of
when Planck received the long overdue prize (retroactively quantum theory. Planck approved many of the advancements
for the year 1918). He has been nominated more often than resulting from the developments in quantum mechanics but
any other previous candidate (75 times). did not play a significant role in them.
According to Max von Laue and many science historians,
the events that took place at the December 1900 meeting of Planck as one of the first managers of modern science
the DPG signal the birth of quantum physics. However, none As mentioned in the biography, his appointments at the
of Plancks publications contains any statement about the Berlin University, at the Prussian Academy and the KWG
physical meaning of his constant, indicating that his concept converted Planck, in spite of his rather modest personality,
has to be clearly distinguished from what we nowadays into the most important representative of German physics.
understand as quantization [7]. The philosopher of science Several other important appointments followed, which
Thomas S. Kuhn discussed this in detail and concluded probably catapulted him into the most powerful person in all
that Planck does not deserve the credit [16]. Einsteins of German science. We mention here the presidency (1921-
publication on the hypothesis of light quanta in 1905 was 1922) of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Naturforscher und rzte
definitely the first clear statement of energy discontinuity or (German Society of Researchers and Physicians) and charter
quantization. Before 1905 Plancks findings were discussed membership of the executive board of the Notgemeischaft
only internally by PTR physicists. However, as the history of der Deutschen Wissenschaft (Emergency Association of
many other discoveries reveals, the role of the participants German Science) from its foundation in 1920 till 1932.
is mostly rather complex and the demand for one hero and The name was changed in 1929 into the present Deutsche
a particular date is not realistic. Nevertheless, Plancks use Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
of the elementary quantum of action was the first step in This organization had been created by Planck, von Laue and
introducing quantization into physics. others to raise funds to relieve their lack in German science
resulting from the war and the subsequent depression. While
Planck and Einstein a civil servant, Schmidt-Ott, ex Prussian minister of Culture,
A fascinating aspect in Plancks biography is his relation was placed at its top, Planck became the ranking scientific
to Albert Einstein, both on the scientific and the personal officer and was deeply involved in engaging institutions
level. Planck was deeply impressed by the revision of the (universities, academies and other scientific societies, state
Newtonian concept of time in Einsteins Special Theory of governments, the Rockefeller Foundation, national and
Relativity. He quickly accepted its basic tenets and put it on foreign industrial organizations, such as Siemens and General
the agenda for lectures and discussions in Berlin and as a Electric) and individuals (such as the Japanese industrialist
thesis topic for many of his PhD students. Although reluctant Hajime Hoshi). A feather in the cap of this organization is the
with regards to Einsteins quantum hypothesis of light, he grant given in 1925 to the theorists who developed quantum
finally became the most important patron of the young mechanics (Heisenberg, Born), a fact which was criticized
Einstein. Planck played a key role when Einstein moved by more conventional physicists who were not receiving
to Berlin and became one of the rare full-time members support. Planck defended this policy with the statement
(with pay) of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, professor Quantum mechanics is at the center of interest of the
without teaching duties at the University and director of a physicists of all countries.
newly created Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics. Although Planck was appointed Senator of the KWG in 1916, becoming
the staunch conservative attitude of Planck, both with its president from 1930 till 1937, thus having to steer one of
respect to science and politics, and the unconventional and the largest science funding organizations world wide through
antiauthoritarian Einstein were not compatible, their personal the rather stormy waters of Nazi rule. As already mentioned
relation was coined by mutual respect and admiration. in his biography, here he misjudged at the beginning the real
However, Plancks unrealistic, illusory and compromising nature of the Nazi philosophy and rulers, giving himself to
attitude during the first years of the Nazi-power became a the illusion that it was only a temporary evil which may even
severe strain for their relation [17]. They finally broke contact help to restore, at least in part, his conservative society. In his
after Einsteins emigration and Plancks criticism of it (see tenure of office at the KWI (1930 till 1937), covering the pre-
biography above). Thereafter, Einstein only wrote a letter of war Nazi period, he, of course, had to contemporize.
condolence to Plancks wife on the occasion of his death, Some of his reproachable actions were in principle harmless:
praising their friendship and the happy times they had spent Heil Hitler in letters, addressing Hitler as Mein Fhrer, Nazi
together in Berlin. Compared to Planck, it is now admitted salute (always raising the hand rather shyly), others were not
that Einstein established the definitive concept of energy as trivial: dismissing non-aryan colleagues (although he tried

vol24 / no5-6 / anno2008 > 47

 percorsi
to rescue some with limited success), participating in the old papers may now be so well known that they appear in
organization and governance of some from our point of view textbooks rather than being cited. The question arises as
rather objectionable institutes (such as the infamous KWI for to whether the impact of early pioneers of science like Max
Anthropology, Human Genetics and Eugenics, directed as of Planck can be quantified by bibliometric methods usually
1940 by Freiherr von Verschuur who was connected with the applied to present day scientists. Carefully establishing and
infamous Dr. Mengele, an ex graduate student of Verschuur). interpreting the citations of Planck as a case study seems to
At some point Planck held a meeting with Nazi authorities be a reasonable way to proceed.
in which the decision was made of teaching the theory of
relativity and mentioning his author, but adding that even Methodology
without Einstein someone else would have come up with the The data presented here are based on Plancks collected
theory. Planck paid dearly for his misjudgment of the Nazi works analyzed using the Thomson Reuters citation indexes
evil. As discussed in the biography, his dear son Erwin was under the Web of Science (WoS), especially the Science
sentenced by the Volksgericht (Peoples Court) and executed Citation Index (SCI). The WoS is accessible under the Web of
in January 1945. Knowledge (WoK), the search platform provided by Thomson
Planck, while fulfilling his managerial duties, never forgot to Reuters (the former Thomson Scientific, emerged from the
keep contact with science, even doing scientific work himself. Institute for Scientific Information, ISI) [19]. In addition, the
He had (from 1892 till 1925) 25 graduate students and seven INSPEC database for Physics, Electronics, and Computing and
degree holders who obtained the habilitation. Planck never SCIsearch (SCI accessible under the database provider STN
coauthored any articles with them, although in one particular International) have been consulted for the present study [20].
case of a graduate student (Kurd von Mosengeil), who had The WoS stretches back to 1900 in its General Search mode,
had a serious accident, Planck worked on his thesis to make the SCI under STN International only goes back to 1974.
it acceptable for publication in the Annalen der Physik. It is The WoS offers two search modes. The General Search
thus difficult to say that, like in the case of Max Born [18], he mode gives access to the articles (no books, no conference
left a school, although two of his charges were awarded the proceedings unless they appear in source journals) published
Nobel Prize (Max von Laue and Walther Bothe) and additional since 1900 and covered by the so-called WoS source journals:
two should have been awarded it (Walther Meissner, for the about 9000 journals currently selected by the staff of
Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect; Walter Schottky, for pioneering Thomson Reuters as contributing significantly to the progress
work in semiconductors). He boasted, while active in of science. The Cited Reference Search mode gives access to
Berlin, of attending regularly the seminars of the Prussian all references appeared in source journal articles (cited either
academy and the Berlin Physical Society (later renamed as correctly or containing errors). The cited references are not
German after Plancks suggestion), having attended more limited to articles published in source journals but include any
meetings than any of his colleagues. Few present day science other published material (e.g., the Bible or the Koran). In other
organizers follow his example. He regularly spoke at the words: The citing papers are limited to source journal articles
meetings of those learned societies, the proceedings of his published since 1900, but the papers cited therein are not
talks, some highly cited, are available in his collected works limited concerning document type or publication year.
[8]: 34 articles correspond to presentations at the Prussian
academy and 17 to presentations at the Physical Society Plancks most-cited papers
meetings. The WoS General Search for Planck M as author name
revealed 111 articles for the period 01-01-1900 till the date
of search (01-06-2008). However, this number is misleading
3 Bibliometric analysis in two aspects: 1) Plancks pre-1900 articles are not fully
covered by the WoS, and 2) at least 21 out of the 24 articles
One way to estimate the impact of a researcher is to count past 1950 were published by a namesake, an oncologist.
the number of times that his papers have been included Hence, there are a total of 90 articles accessible as source
in the reference lists of other papers. The number of records under the WoS. An additional search in the Physics
citations is often taken as a measure of the attention an Abstracts database (INSPEC) in the time period 1898 till 1950
article, a researcher or an institute has attracted. Although revealed 74 articles, including 3 pre-1900 papers. According
citation numbers reflect strengths and shortcomings and to a recent count, there are at least 18 articles published in
are therefore frequently used for research evaluation, the the Annalen der Physik prior to 1900 [21]. This journal, which
number of citations cannot easily be equated with the he edited between 1907 and 1928, was his preferred choice
overall significance: 1) The final importance of the more for publishing his work, starting 1881 and ending 1941. A
recent papers may not yet be clear, and 2) the results of citation analysis based on the WoS Cited Reference Search

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 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

Author(s) Journal Title Citations

Annalen der Physik 39/275, 161- Excitation of electricity and

M. Planck 279
186 (1890) heat in electrolytes

The potential difference

between two dilute
Annalen der Physik 40/276, 561-
M. Planck solutions of binary 266
576 (1890)
electrolytes

The energy distribution law

Annalen der Physik 4/309, 553-
M. Planck of the normal spectrum 198
563 (1901)
On the theory of the
Verhandlungen der Deutschen
energy distribution law of
M. Planck Physikalischen Gesellschaft 184
the normal spectrum
202/237 (1900)*
An essay on statistical
Sitzungsberichte der Preuischen dynamics and its
M. Planck Akademie der Wissenschaften generalization to quantum 117
324-341 (1917)** theory

The dynamics of moving

Annalen der Physik 26/331, 1-34
M. Planck systems 95
(1908)
Annalen der Physik 1/306, 69-122 On irreversible radiation
M. Planck 91
(1900) processes
* Both articles are not included as WoS source records
** This paper contains Plancks contribution to the Fokker-Planck equation.

Tab I. The most-cited articles by Max Planck. Source: Thomson Reuters Web of
Science (WoS), date of search: 01-06-2008.

mode (i.e. including the pre-1900 papers) reveals Plancks those about black-body radiation and energy quantization
most-cited papers as given in tab. I. The citations of the published in1900 [9-10] and summarized in 1901 [11], but
pre-1900 papers within the time period from the year of this is not the case. However, if we add up the citations of
publication till 1900 are currently not available under the these three articles, we obtain almost 400 citations. If we
WoS. The coverage of the pre-1950 physics literature by the include the preceding five communications on irreversible
WoS seems to be sufficiently complete to justify the analysis. radiation processes published between 1897 and 1899 in
Misspelled citations (incorrect with regard to the numerical Sitzungsberichte der Preuischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
data: volume, starting page, and publication year) are a (see ref. [8], Vol. 1, pp. 493-600) we find altogether 450
general problem in citation analysis. The references of early citations. This situation is rather similar to that encountered
articles are particularly susceptible concerning mutations. in the case of Einstein: His most-cited articles are not those
Between 1881 and 1941 Planck published altogether 45 dealing with the special and general theory of relativity, but
papers in the Annalen der Physik [5]. This still prestigious the paper dealing with the so-called EPR paradox [22] (3364
journal (before WW II comparable to Physical Review at citations) followed by an article in which the molecular radius
present) is cited with an above average error rate, due to the and Avogadros number are determined using viscosity data
changes in the journal name, editors, location of editorial [23] (1924 citations plus 1166 citations for an erratum [24]).
office and the various series. We included here the misspelled Obviously, important early articles may not have been cited
citations by hand (provided that we were able to identify according to their importance. Sometimes they are even
them and assign them to a specific Planck paper). rarely cited, as compared to much less fundamental works
One may have surmised that Plancks most-cited articles are (see below).

vol24 / no5-6 / anno2008 > 49

 percorsi
Citation History of the most-cited Planck Articles
30

Ann Phys V39 P161 (1890)

25 Ann Phys V40 P561 (1890)
Quantum of Action - total
Number of Citations

20

15

10

0 1960

1970

1980

1990

2000
1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

2010
Publication Year of Citing Articles

Fig. 2 Time-dependent number of citations (citation history) of the three most-cited articles by Max
Planck. The red curve comprises the total impact of the three papers on rank 3 and 4 in tab. 1, i.e., refs.
[9-11]. Misspelled citations (incorrect with regard to the numerical data: volume, starting page, and
publication year) are included here if we were able to identify them.

The graph displaying the time-dependent evolution of a Note that the impact peak of the quantization papers around
single article is sometimes called its citation history. Each 2005 coincides with the centennial of Einsteins annus
article develops its own life span as it is being cited. With mirabilis. Figure 3 shows the number of citations per year
time, the citations per year (citation rate) normally evolve within the first three decades. The citations of the famous
following a similar pattern: They generally do not increase 1905 paper by Albert Einstein [25] on the light-quantum
substantially until one year after publication. They reach a hypothesis (522 citations), introducing the photon in the
summit after about three years, the peak position depending discussion of the photoelectric effect and responsible for his
somewhat on the research discipline. Subsequently, as the Nobel Prize, are shown for comparison.
articles are displaced by newer ones and interest in the field The citations of Plancks quantization papers soon waned,
wanes, their impact decreases, leading to the accumulation of with only 9 citing papers between 1910 and 1930. A further
citations at a lower rate. Finally, most papers are barely cited analysis reveals that the majority of the citations appear in
or forgotten. Figure 2 shows the citation history of the three papers published by PTR physicists working at that time
most-cited Planck papers given in tab. 1. on the spectral characteristics of the black-body radiation
In contrast to the standard canonical time pattern (i.e. Paschen, Lummer, Pringsheim, Kurlbaum, Rubens) and
mentioned above, the citations of the most-cited Planck also by Planck himself. By and large, at the beginning of the
papers are highly delayed (such papers have been called 20th century Plancks introduction of the concept of energy
sleeping beauties). We have analyzed the recent citations of quantization was not widely mentioned in the physics
Plancks two most cited papers (published in 1890 and having literature. Even Planck himself did not further discuss the
to do with electrolytes). We find a total of 10 for the years physical significance of his constant. Today, in particular
2005-2008. The citing papers cover a vast range of subjects, Einsteins paper on the light quantum hypothesis is seen as
including Darwinian dynamics, in vivo skin electroporation, the beginning of our present understanding of quantum
electrodiffusion, fuel cells, cation exchange, electrochemistry theory, absorbing and incorporating Plancks approach.
of metallurgical processes, transport through membranes, Except for Max Born, none of the founders of quantum
and soldered interconnections. mechanics, like Werner Heisenberg or Erwin Schrdinger,
The citations of the three Planck articles introducing his cited the quantization papers by Planck or the photoelectric
famous constant are shown in fig. 2 as a whole. Interestingly, effect paper by Einstein. Within the time period 1900 till
their impact is almost negligible during the time of the 1925 there are only 2 citations by articles published in the
development of quantum mechanics (around 1925/1926). Physical Review. The citing papers of Plancks quantization

50 < il nuovo saggiatore

 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

Quantization Articles: Planck vs Einstein

10

9 Planck 1900

8 Planck 1901
Planck Total
7
Number of Citations

0
1900

1902

1904

1906

1908

1910

1912

1914

1916

1918

1920

1922

1924

1926

1928

1930
Publication Year of Citing Articles

Fig 3 Time-dependent number of citations of the 1900/1901 articles by Planck on energy quantization
[9-11] and of the 1905 paper by Einstein dealing with the light quantum hypothesis and introducing the
photon [25].

articles past 1920 are reviews and/or mainly discuss Plancks The time evolution of citations is a result of two competing
constant in an historical or philosophical context. The classical phenomena: the aging of the articles (obsolescence,
papers establishing quantum mechanics (by Heisenberg, replacement, oblivion) and the growth of the scientific
Schrdinger, Born, Dirac, Pauli, and Jordan) received many literature. The articles covered by the SCI as well as by
more citations within the first years after their appearance. INSPEC increased approximately by a factor of hundred
Based on the WoS Cited Reference Search mode and the time throughout the 20th century. The proliferation of science
period 1880-1950 (the publication years relevant for Planck), implies a proliferation of potentially citable articles, resulting
we determined the time curve of the overall number of in increasing ratios of references per article (reference count)
citations of all publications by Planck (articles as well as books and therewith of the average number of citations per article
and any other published material) as shown in fig. 4. Such (citation rate). We may speculate about how much more a
seminal work is often cited by mentioning the authors name citation around 1900 is worth compared to a present day
or name-based items (informal citations [26], also called citation and may decide that citation numbers have inflated
eponyms) instead of citing the full references as a footnote by a factor between ten and hundred.
(formal citations). Therefore, we included in fig. 4 the separate Finally, we summarize the citation analysis by listing the
time curve of the informal citations based on the INSPEC citation numbers with respect to articles and books and to
database (Planck appearing in the titles, the abstracts or articles only, for the time period January 1900 to June 2008:
the keywords). The time curve of the total number of records Impact of articles only based on the WoS General Search
covered by INSPEC is shown as an illustration of the time mode: 679 citing papers comprising 840 citations
evolution of the physics literature. (citations of the pre-1900 articles not covered by the WoS
Out of almost 16,000 articles mentioning Plancks name, as source records are excluded).
about 8300 refer to the so-called Fokker-Planck equation. The Total impact (pre-1900 articles and books included) based
Fokker-Planck equation describes the time evolution of the on the WoS Cited Reference Search mode: 2767 citing
probability density function of the position and velocity of papers comprising approximately 3000 citations (some
particles. Planck derived the equation, already independently papers cite more than one Planck article and/or book).
reported in 1914 by Adriaan Fokker (1887-1972) [27], which Impact of articles published in Sitzungsberichte der
has become most important for statistical mechanics. Note the Preuischen Akademie der Wissenschaften and in
large difference between the formal citations of the original Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft
papers (Planck: 117, Fokker: 132) and informal citations (8300). altogether 674 citations.

vol24 / no5-6 / anno2008 > 51

 percorsi
Formal vs Informal Citations of Max Planck
900

800 Formal Citations - W oS

Informal Citations - W oS
700
Informal Citations - INSPEC
citing / mentioning Planck

INSPEC Total (x 1/1000)

Number of Articles

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
1890

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010
Publication Year of Articles citing / mentioning Planck

FIG 4 Time dependent number of formal citations referring to the works of Max Planck (articles and books)
versus informal citations (Planck appearing in the titles, the abstracts or the keywords) based on INSPEC.
The time curve of the total number of records covered by INSPEC is shown as an illustration of the time
evolution of the physics literature. Currently, the publication year 2007 under INSPEC is not complete and
hence not included here.

The large difference between I and II is caused by (1) the of the WoS General Search mode. In this mode only the
pre-1900 articles which are not covered by the WoS, (2) the citations of the papers covered by the WoS source journals are
various Planck publications which did not appear in WoS included. The h-index of Max Planck rises from 12 to 14 if the
source journals (e.g. some articles, books, lectures, and talks), citations to the pre-1900 articles not covered by the WoS are
and (3) the above average citation error rate due to the taken into account.
specific history of Plancks most important journal Annalen Note that the impact of early papers, and thereby the
der Physik (see above). h-number of pioneers like Max Planck are much lower than
those of current top-scientists (e.g., P. W. Anderson, h = 103;
Plancks h-index Giorgio Parisi, h = 77). The increasing number of citable
A new index (h-index, h-number) was introduced recently papers within the last century results in increasing average
by Jorge E. Hirsch as a measure of the cumulative impact citation rates. In addition, the h-index is a measure both for
of a persons scientific work within a given discipline [28]. It performance as well as output. The publication habits (in
can be easily obtained under the WoS General Search mode, particular the average number of papers per year and the
provided there are either no highly cited namesakes or they number of coauthors per paper) have increased significantly.
can be removed. The h-index is simply defined as the number Around 1900 scientists like Planck used to publish 1-2 articles
of articles in source journals that have had h citations or more. per year. Hence, the citation numbers (and the h-numbers)
The index increases roughly linearly with the scientific age of of early scientists are not directly comparable to those of
the scientist and depends on his specific research field. The present-day researchers.
h-index reflects a researchers contribution based on a broad In general, research evaluation, particularly where individuals
body of publications rather than based on a few high-impact are involved, has to be done very carefully, because one is
papers. This avoids an overestimation of single or few highly dealing with peoples careers. This caveat does not apply to
cited papers, sometimes being methodological contributions, early pioneers, but in their case the danger of distortion is
reviews or articles with a number of coauthors in which it is even larger.
impossible to assign individual contributions. The h-index
favors researchers who consistently produce influential Plancks books and published lectures
papers. Planck was one of the leading theoretical physicists at his
The h-indexes given in tab. II were determined on the basis time. Not surprisingly, his lectures given at the University of

52 < il nuovo saggiatore

 m. cardona and W. Marx: max Planck - A conservative revolutionary

Berlin appeared as books. In addition, Planck became one of by the sociologist Robert K. Merton [33-34]. The process of
the most important representatives of German science. His obliteration or palimpsest (the latter expression referring to
many talks given in his role as permanent secretary of the a piece of parchment used more than once, i.e., being erased
Prussian Academy of Sciences, as rector of the University of to make room for newer work) affects seminal works (i.e.,
Berlin, and as president of the KWG have been published. truly ground-breaking research) offering novel ideas that
Plancks books can be classified into the following categories: are rapidly absorbed into the body of scientific knowledge.
Scientific autobiography [1] and the various biographical Such work is soon integrated into textbooks and becomes
notes. increasingly familiar within the scientific community. As
Dissertation, Habilitation, and Nobel lecture. a result of the absorption and canonization, the original
Lectures published in book form and given in ref. [29-32]. sources (mainly articles or books) fail to be cited, either as full
Talks (about science, philosophy, and religion) collected in references (formal citations) and even as names or subject
ref. [8]. specific terms (informal citations) [26].
Books or book articles are no WoS source records and are The ideas survive sometimes becoming substantial
therefore not searchable via the WoS General Search mode. elements of the basis and groundwork of modern science,
The references assigned to books within the articles of the but overbuilding the groundwork implies obliterating the
WoS source journals, however, are completely captured in sources. For example, the articles of Albert Einstein on the
the WoS. The citations of individual books (and of articles Theory of Relativity (published 1905 and 1916, respectively)
not published in source journals) are determined using the are rarely cited in current research papers (as compared
WoS Cited Reference Search mode. As a result of our analysis, to less fundamental work), although they are the basis of
Plancks lectures received altogether almost 700 citations. See modern cosmology and mainly caused Einsteins popularity.
for comparison Richard Feynmans famous Lectures on Physics It may even happen that a transmitter, being familiar with the
(4500 citations). Plancks scientific autobiography was cited origin of a concept and assuming that the same is true for his
about 200 times. We should mention here that citations do readers, brings the idea back to life without citing the source
not measure the full impact of books, but only the reference and eventually becomes identified with its originator.
based attention within the ensemble of articles published Eugene Garfield, the inventor of the citation indexes and
in the WoS source journals. In contrast to books, research the founder of the ISI (Institute for Scientific Information,
articles can be much better evaluated by this method. Philadelphia), concisely stated in one of his essays [35]:
Obliteration perhaps even more than an astronomical
Obliteration by incorporation citation rate is one of the highest compliments the
The works of Max Planck, in particular those in the community of scientists can pay to the author. It would
field of quantum physics (but also his contributions to mean that his contribution was so basic, so vital, and so well-
thermodynamics), are a typical example of obliteration known that scientists everywhere simply take it for granted.
by incorporation, a phenomenon first described in 1949 He would have been obliterated into immortality. Bearing
that in mind, we should not expect that the formal or even
the informal citations of the works of Max Planck can be taken
as a real measure of the influence of his ideas in modern
Researcher h-number science. There is no metrics for quantifying fundamentality,
Max Planck 12/14* significance or even elegance, which are terms belonging to a
completely different category.
Wilhelm Wien 10/13*
Niels Bohr 22
4 Conclusions
Albert Einstein 46
We have considered Max Planck not only as a towering
Enrico Fermi 31
scientist, one of the fathers of modern physics, but also as a
prominent historical figure, a witness, an actor and a tragic
* h-number corrected with respect to the pre-1900 articles not
covered as source records by the WoS (under the General Search victim of some of the major cataclysms of modern history. In
mode). They have been estimated using the Cited Reference his public political life he was confronted with overwhelming
Search mode. dilemmas. His handling of them has been the object of
considerable controversy, especially in recent years, a fact
Tab. II Comparison of Max Planck with some Nobel laureate which is not privy to him but also applies to many of his
contemporaries by using h-numbers. Aryan German contemporaries. His main contributions to

vol24 / no5-6 / anno2008 > 53

 science, especially his treatment of the black-body radiation [14] J. C. Mather et al., A preliminary measurement of the cosmic
and his introduction of Plancks constant h and Boltzmanns microwave background spectrum by the cosmic background explorer
(COBE) satellite, Astrophys. J., 354 (1990) L37.
constant kB, have been discussed. Citation analysis has been [15] M. Planck, The theory of heat radiation, Ann. Phys. (Leipzig), 336
applied to his published works and shown to be of limited (1910) 758.
value, a fact which also applies to other old pioneers. The [16] T. S. Kuhn, Black body theory and the quantum discontinuity (New
York, Oxford) 1978.
concept of informal citations (eponyms) brings better to the
[17] D. Hoffmann, Max Planck und Albert Einstein Kollegen im
fore his present-day impact. Widerstreit, Spectrum der Wissenschaft, 5 (2008) 32.
[18] M. Cardona and W. Marx, Max Born and his legacy to condensed
matter physics, Ann. Phys. (Berlin), 17 (2008) 497.
[19] URL Thomson Reuters:
References http://scientific.thomsonreuters.com/products/wos/
[20] URL STN International: http://www.stn-international.de/
[1] M. Planck, Scientific autobiography (Philosophical Library, New [21] Plancks Annalen publications (1881-1941), Ann. Phys. (Berlin), 17
York) 1949. (2008) 68.
M. Planck, Autobiografia scientifica, La conoscenza del mondo [22] A. Einstein, B. Podolsky, and N. Rosen, Can quantum-mechanical
fisico (Bollati Boringhieri, Torino) 1993, pp. 11-32. description of physical reality be considered complete?, Phys. Rev., 47
[2] J. L. Heilbron, The dilemmas of an upright man Max Planck as (1935) 777.
spokesman for German science (University of California Press, [23] A. Einstein, A new determination of the molecular dimensions, Ann.
Berkeley and Los Angeles) 1986. Phys. (Leipzig), 19 (1906) 289.
[3] A. Hermann, Planck, mit Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten [24] A. Einstein, A new determination of the molecular dimensions
(Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbeck bei Hamburg) 1973. (correction), Ann. Phys. (Leipzig), 34 (1911) 591.
[4] D. Hoffmann, Max Planck - Die Entstehung der modernen Physik [25] A. Einstein, Generation and conversion of light from a heuristic point
(Verlag C. H. Beck, Mnchen) 2008. of view, Ann. Phys. (Leipzig), 17 (1905) 132.
[5] D. Hoffmann, ...you cant say to anyone to their face: your paper is [26] W. Marx and M. Cardona, The citation impact outside references
rubbish. Max Planck as editor of the Annalen der Physik, Ann. formal versus informal citations, Scientometrics,
Phys. (Berlin), 17 (2008) 273. [27] A. D. Fokker, The median energy of rotating electrical dipoles in
[6] A. von Pufendorf, Die Plancks: Eine Familie zwischen Patriotismus radiation fields, Ann. Phys. (Leipzig), 43 (1914) 810.
und Widerstand (List Verlag, Berlin) 2007. DOI: 10.1007/s11192-008-1824-2
[7] H. Kragh, Max Planck: the reluctant revolutionary, Physics World, 13 [28] J. E. Hirsch, An index to quantify an individuals scientific research
(2000) 31. output, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 102 (2005) 16569.
[8] M. Planck, Physikalische Abhandlungen und Vortrge, no. 1-3 [29] M. Planck, Einfhrung in die theoretische Physik, no. 1-5 (Leipzig)
(Vieweg Verlag, Braunschweig) 1948. 1916-1930.
[9] M. Planck, ber eine Verbesserung der Wienschen [30] M. Planck, Vorlesungen ber Thermodynamik (Veit, Leipzig) 1897.
Spektralgleichung, Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen [31] M. Planck, Vorlesungen ber die Theorie der Wrmestrahlung
Gesellschaft (1900) 202. (Barth, Leipzig) 1906.
[10] M. Planck, Zur Theorie des Gesetzes der Energieverteilung im [32] M. Planck, Acht Vorlesungen ber theoretische Physik, held at the
Normalspektrum, Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Columbia University, New York 1909 (Hirzel, Leipzig) 1910.
Gesellschaft (1900) 237. [33] R. K. Merton, Social theory and social structure (The Free Press,
[11] M. Planck, The energy distribution law of the normal spectrum, Ann. New York) 1968. First edition 1949.
Phys. (Leipzig), 309 (1901) 553. [34] R. K. Merton, On the shoulders of giants: a Shandean postscript
[12] A. Hermann, Frhgeschichte der Quantentheorie (Physik Verlag, (The Free Press, New York) 1965.
Mosbach) 1969. P. 31: Letter to Robert Williams Wood (1931). [35] E. Garfield, The obliteration phenomenon in science and the
[13] M. Planck, History of the retrieval of the physical quantum of action, advantage of being obliterated, Essays of an information scientist, 2
Naturwiss., 31 (1943) 153. (1975) 396.

Manuel Cardona Werner Marx

Born 1934 in Barcelona, Spain. Licenciado en Ciencias, Barcelona, Born 1951 in Trier, Germany. Diploma in Physical Chemistry
1955; Doctor en Ciencias, Madrid, 1958; Ph.D., Harvard, 1959; worked 1978, Doctoral Thesis (PhD) 1981, University of Bonn, with both
at RCA (Radio Corporation of America) Laboratories, Princeton and dissertations on atmospheric chemistry (ozone depletion). Joined
Zrich, 1959-1964; Associate Professor (1964-1968) and Professor the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart in 1982
of Physics (1968-1971), Brown University; Founding Director, Max as information specialist. Since 1994 head of the Central Information
Planck Institute of Solid State Research (1971-2000), from 2000 Service for the institutes of the Chemical-Physical-Technical (CPT)
Director Emeritus; Member of several academies including: National Section of the Max Planck Society. Special interests: bibliometrics,
Academy of Sciences of the USA (1988), Academia Europaea (1991) scientometrics and the history of science. Author or coauthor of
and Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (foreign member, 2008); Dr. about 20 scientific papers analyzing seminal publications, prominent
h.c. Universit di Roma La Sapienza (1995). Author or coauthor of scientists, and scientific journals using bibliometric methods.
about 2200 scientific articles and a textbook: Fundamentals of
Semiconductors (with P. Y. Yu, fourth edition).

54 < il nuovo saggiatore

percorsi

FRESNEL, THE PRINCE OF THE

OPTICIANS
Roberto colella
Physics Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Augustin Fresnel died on July 14, 1827, at the age of 39. We will try in this short article
to illustrate the amazing transformation his genius was able to bring about by his
tremendous activity over a period of nine years, so suddenly interrupted by his disease
and death. One of the past directors of the French Lighthouses remarked that this
astonishing genius was able to display the same innovating creativity in the practical
domain, with the result of bringing about a complete transformation in the way in
which light, guide to sailors, is utilized and produced.

At the beginning of the XIX century the nature of light was not entirely clarified. Many
beautiful experiments performed by Fresnel and others supported the wave theory, but
several other equally beautiful experiments could not be shown to fit the wave picture. Things
got worse towards the end of the century. It was in fact in 1900 that Planck introduced into
radiation theory the famous quantity h, the quantum of action, which allowed to understand
a large body of spectroscopic work, thanks to the works of Einstein, Sommerfeld, Bohr, and
many others. It was in 1881 that Michelson published the negative result of his wonderful
experiment: the Earths motion does not modify at all, not even in second order, that is to
say, within one part over 1010, the speed of light. To say the truth, the incompatibility of this
result with the whole body of classical theories was not immediately apparent. It was enough
to give up the idea of an absolutely still and universal ether, postulated by Lorentz, and to

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admit, following an old suggestion by Stokes, that all celestial

bodies, the Earth, for example, can drag the surrounding
ether. A certain intermediate distance could be defined at
the separation point between an ether fully dragged by the
Earths surface (Michelson), and an ether at rest with respect
to the fixed stars (or at least, to the Solar System). Only later
did the difficulties of this single and attracting hypothesis
become clear, and all scientists gave it up.
Fresnel was born on May 10, 1788. He was admitted to the
cole Polytechnique, created in 1795, at the age of sixteen
and a half years, in 1804. Arago was admitted the previous
year, and had started at this time a friendly relationship with
Poisson, who was the first to graduate from this school in
1800. He became a professor of mechanics in 1802, and used
to live in the building of the school. Fresnel graduated in
1806, then applied for admission in the school of Highways
and Bridges, and became an engineer in 1809. Between 1809
and 1815, in the departments of Vende and then of Drme,
he was continuously kept busy with the most unpleasant
jobs, such as supervising road repairs, searching for stone jot down an outline for the theories described in two papers
banks , making sure that they were evenly distributed along sent to the Academy of Sciences in October and November.
the ruts in the roads, maintenance of small irrigation canals, In 1816 he is put in charge of a demanding job in Rennes, so
and particularly checking on hourly slips and measures that he must stop his experiments. He will be granted a leave
on earthwork. Hard work for his weak body and for his of absence in 1827 which will allow him to go back to Paris,
intelligence, so opposed to any form of management of where he will live for the rest of his life. At the beginning of
people. 1818 he is associated with the Ourcq canal.
The Hundred Days brought some spare time to him. The forced vacation brought about by the Hundred Days
Convinced royalist, Fresnel joined voluntarily the little allowed Fresnels imagination to develop in full ferment.
incongruous forces who, under the leadership of the Duke He was well advised by his uncle Lonor Mrime who had
d Angoulme , tried to stop Napoleons triumphant recently written to him (January 17, 1814): We are led to
march from the Elbe island. Fresnel was subjected to strict believe that there are no more discoveries to be done, for the
disciplinary rules, executed without too much rigor by the reason that every substance in the world has been handled
count Ral, police chief during the Hundred Days. He was and treated in such a way that not much is left for us to
forced to take some rest at his mothers estate in Mathieu, play with. However, from time to time, there are discoveries
Eure department. It was at this time that he performed his which prove that something is left to feed human curiosity.
first measurements on the hyperbolic progression of the Therefore, do not put aside any new idea you may come
diffraction fringes, using rudimentary tools such as string across.
and razor blades. He started to work in Optics with an How Fresnel followed this advice and fed human curiosity
entirely new attitude. In fact, it is well known that his physics will be described later in this article.
professor at the cole Polytechnique was rather ignorant. It was then at the age of 27, after six years of service as an
Fresnel did not know English; he was unaware of the engineer, without any experimental background, without a
experiments and hypotheses of Thomas Young. The French laboratory to speak of, that Fresnel tackled the problem of
textbooks by Libes and Hay made hardly any mention to measuring with great accuracy the positions of diffraction
those topics. fringes. It is interesting to follow, through the chronological
In the beginning Fresnel was intrigued, through a list of his publications, the extraordinary fast sequence of
conversation with Arago, by the phenomenon of stellar his discoveries. Nine years (1815-1824) were enough for
aberration, and by the experiment involving an astronomical him to create the optical theory of waves, crystal optics,
telescope filled with water. and to keep busy three following generations of scientists,
Fresnel arrived at Mathieu in April, 1815. Only at the end of some of them very eminent ones. After June 1819 up until
the year was he called back to active duty. These six months his death, in 1827, Fresnel was a member of the Committee
had been enough for him to perform some experiments and of Lighthouses, and never stopped his scientific and

56 < il nuovo saggiatore

 r. colella: fresnel, the prince of the opticians

works executed during the XIX century. The same can be said
of all numerical relationships between observable quantities
deduced by Fresnel using general arguments based on wave
theory. However, in order to determine in some instances
the appropriate mathematical corrections, and to put his
arguments, in all cases, on solid footing, a whole century of
efforts has not been too much.
In any big topic tackled by Fresnel, he always aimed straight
at the main point, well delineated, which he wanted to reach
without being distracted by excessive demands of logical
rigor. He knew how to choose his postulates to be used in the
ensuing computations, without worrying too much about
their number. He was satisfied with persuasive arguments to
justify their internal consistency and their compatibility with
the fundamental principles of wave theory. And always his
postulates led him without hesitation to wonderful formulae
in amazing agreement with the most unpredictable facts.
Well known examples are
i) the bright point at the center of a small disk,
administrative activity in the optical design of stepped lenses, ii) the elliptical polarization by total reflection,
catoptric and dioptric, methods of fabrication, improvements iii) the circular birefringence of quartz along directions close
on their brightness, the regular motion of pulsed lighthouses, to the principal axis.
etc. His productivity is astonishing. Between 1816 and 1824 The nature of light was the source of great controversies
he published 25 papers in which he revolutionized the whole which were settled (so to speak) only around the middle of
field of optics. The papers deal with many basic issues in the XIX century. One theory was: light is waves (Huyghens,
disparate fields such as diffraction, interference, polarization, Young, Fresnel); the other theory was: light is material
double refraction. One of these papers was a sealed particles (Newton: emission theory). It is interesting to see
message to the Academy of Sciences, dated April 20, 1818, that Newton himself developed a theory of tides based on
on the theory of diffraction. This was the classical theory of the principles of interference. It is a theory often mentioned
diffraction, due to Fresnel, with a table of numerical values for by Young, who believed that the same theory could be
the Fresnel integrals: applied to explain light, contrary to Newtons ideas. It is
an attempt to explain certain anomalous tides observed
by Halley in the China Sea, presented in the third book of
Principia (chapt. 24). According to Newton the waves of the
ocean tides would penetrate into the China Sea through two
Some of these papers were written in response to objections narrow passages located north and south of the Philippines
raised by Poisson in regard to the controversy about the Archipelago. In the harbors in which the two tidal waves were
nature of light: waves or particles? On May 12, 1823, Fresnel delayed, one with respect to the other, by 6 hours, they would
is unanimously elected member of the Academy of Sciences, destroy themselves. No destruction would take place when
succeeding Charles (who had been a member since 1795). the two tidal waves were out of phase by one whole day,
After 1821 up to 1824 Fresnel had to spend many hours for a which was the case when the moon was in the plane of the
meager profit, as a temporary examiner of the students from equator. The time of his forced exile in Mathieu was dedicated
the Polytechnic School. From the end of 1824 on, his failing entirely to study the principles of diffraction theory. Fresnel
health allows him just to continue his lighthouse service, but understood that the phenomena of shadows presented
he is no longer able to pursue his scientific research. Only a some aspects that could not be reconciled with emission
few months before his death, at the beginning of 1827, he theory, and he realized that a thorough understanding of
obtains to be helped by his older brother Lonor Fresnel, also these aspects was important. In his isolation, Fresnel had
from the Polytechnic School like himself. no micrometer which would have enabled him to measure
In order to appreciate Fresnels amazing intuitive power, we the width of the fringes he was planning to observe. He had
must remember that all results of his experiments have been no heliostat to stabilize the direction of the light beam. He
confirmed by the most accurate and extensive experimental himself fabricated a micrometer, using wires and cardboard

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pieces. He was able to greatly reduce the inconvenience due the first case, the intensity was the same intensity obtained
to the apparent motion of the sun by making use of a lens with the disk removed, in the second case the intensity was
with short focal length. The locksmith of the little town of close to zero for several values of the distances source to
Mathieu built for Fresnel some structural supports, and, by aperture. These distances could be calculated by means of a
making use of this primitive equipment, Fresnel was able, simple formula. Fresnel was invited to provide experimental
with a lot of patience and care for small details, to obtain evidence for these two cases. He had to improvise both
results sufficiently accurate for establishing some of the experiments, and in both cases he was able to get spectacular
most important laws of Optics. Two long papers, presented agreement between his theory and the experiments.
to the Academy of Sciences with an interval of a few weeks, Posterity has ratified the sentence of the Academy, and even
were the early reports of these research activities. Diffraction half a century after the competition of 1818 Fresnels report
studies started with investigating the shadows; the principle was universally considered one of those eternal masterpieces,
of interference was discovered by Fresnel through the worthy to be studied in detail even a long time after it was no
observation of the shadows projected by a thin wire. The longer at the forefront of research.
key point is: what happens at the superposition of different Looking at Fresnels last publications, it is clear that his output
waves? This is the point which contradicts Newtons theory was considerably reduced during the last four years of his life.
and confirms the wave theory. In Fresnels words: It is clear There is no question that his health was rapidly deteriorating
that the vibrations associated with two rays crossing at a to the point of making it impossible for him to continue his
small angle may result in zero intensity when the nodes of research activities in which his genius had been able to reap
one ray correspond to the antinodes of the other ray. so many triumphs and successes. But the main reason for his
The phenomena about diffraction discovered by Grimaldi, decrease in research activities was to be found elsewhere: it
and later by Hooke and Newton, had been the subject of was the ever increasing duties in his engineering activities.
research for several scientists, such as: Young, Fresnel, Arago, Do not forget that Fresnels profession was: Engineer at the
Pouillet, Biot et al. They observed the diffracted fringes which School of Highways and Bridges. He was called, in the spring
are formed and propagate outside of the shadows of certain of 1818, to supervise the construction of the Ourcq canal, but
objects. They considered the fringes formed within the did not keep for a long time that position. In May 1819 he
shadows, which are formed when the light rays propagate was transferred to the register of the survey of lands for the
simultaneously around the two sides of a very thin object paving of the city of Paris. But the administration of Highways
(a thin wire, for example), and also those fringes which are and Bridges realized that they could get some advantages
formed by reflection on the surface of a limited extent, when by hiring an engineer who was revolutionizing the optical
the incident and reflected rays propagate very close to their science from top to bottom, so, on June 21, 1819, Fresnel was
edges. The competition between wave theory (Huygens, attached to the Commission of Lighthouses. This became
Young, Fresenel) and emission theory (Newton, Laplace, his main occupation, and we can hardly imagine how much
Biot, Poisson) was fierce. The French Academy of Sciences benefit the man who invented the reticular lenses was able to
proposed a prize for the scientist who could demonstrate, transmit to his community. The thought comes to our mind.
beyond any doubt, which theory (waves or emission) should Other engineers, sooner or later would have invented what
be used to describe the nature of light. The scientists who we call now Fresnel Lenses, namely, the lenses with thick
were contemplating to participate in the competition were steps which concentrate the light in flat spherical regions, but
expected to set up experimental demonstration to provide only Fresnel could continue the revolution he had started in
experimental evidence. Needless to say, Fresnel won the science. Who could predict what he would have done, if he
competition. The vote of the Committee Members, which had been allowed to pursue without interruptions of any kind
included three illustrious scientists who were initially in favor the free development of his creative imagination? He tried
of the emission theory, was affected by the favorable attitude several times to start a new career, or to find in a job situation
of people like Laplace, Biot and Poisson, three big names in more congenial with his interests the necessary resources
the world of mathematics. A striking episode made a great needed to perform interesting optics experiments. The
impact on the minds of the judges. Even though it did not expenses involved are quite substantial for the modest salary
change most likely their way of thinking about the nature of of an ordinary engineer in Highways and Bridges. During
light, it was probably the explanation of their unanimous vote the winter 1819-1820 he offered at the Atheneum a physics
in favor of Fresnel. Poisson made the point that the integrals course, but he realized that teaching was not for him. In 1821
used by Fresnel to calculate the intensity of the diffracted he accepted the unattractive and low-pay job of Temporary
light could be evaluated exactly at the center of the shadow Examiner for the students of the Polytechnic School. He
of a small disk and at the center of a small circular opening. In kept this job after trying, with no success, to exchange the

58 < il nuovo saggiatore

 r. colella: fresnel, the prince of the opticians

1 2

position for a more lucrative job of examiner for the students be opaque or transparent. See fig. 1. The main idea of zone
of the Navy School. He kept this position with the Polytechnic plates is to consider a point source, and, at some distance,
School up to 1824. He had to resign for health reasons. At the regions of constant phase obtained by means of the
this point he had lost the energy needed to carry on his own Huygens principle. Each ring, perpendicular to the direction
scientific research and his engineering job. Being sensitive to of observation, has radii proportional to the square roots of
his duties and to his feelings of faithfulness he had inherited whole numbers. The phase corresponding to each zone is
from his parents, he sacrificed everything he might have done assumed to be constant over the annular region. This is an
to seek personal glory and satisfaction, and dedicated to the important approximation. It turns out that the final results
service of the lighthouses every moment of relief from his are the same as those obtained by considering infinitely
sickness. It was only at the beginning of 1827 that he asked thin Fresnel zones, with phases defined as continuous
for, and was granted permission to, be helped by his brother, functions, rather than step functions. A zone plate can be
who later became his successor and took upon himself the described, therefore, as a special circular screen designed
task of writing about this part of Fresnels science. But it was to block off the light from every other half-period zone.
too late. Four months later, on July 14, 1827, Fresnel passed The result is to remove either all positive terms or all the
away, in his mothers arms. negative terms, when the overall illumination at any given
Twenty five years before this happened, this pious and noble point is evaluated by adding up, in magnitude and phase, all
woman, in expressing her wishes in regard to the future life the terms corresponding to the various Fresnel half-period
of Augustin Fresnel, had these words to express from the zones. In this way the amplitude at any given point will be
bottom of her heart: I pray God that He will give my son the increased to many times its value obtained in the absence
grace to make use of the great and many talents he received of a Fresnel zone-plate. Enhancement factors of 400 times or
from God for useful gifts and the general welfare to be more can be easily obtained. It sounds paradoxical that by
bestowed on humanity. Much will be demanded from whom inserting a screen, namely, by blocking off certain portions
who received great favors, and much will be expected from of the incident intensity, we increase the local intensity, but
whom who received great gifts. this is the great intuition Fresnel had when he discovered the
Who could satisfy better than Augustin Fresnel this desire to complete theory of diffraction of light, what we call today
shower gifts on our neighbors? Fresnel Diffraction, as opposed to other mechanisms such
as, for example, Fraunhofer Diffraction.
Sometimes Fresnel zone plates are referred to as Fresnel
Fresnel, the inventor of gadgets Lenses. The bright spot produced by a zone plate is so
There is no question that Augustin Fresnel was one of the intense that the plate acts much like a lens. Fresnel lenses
most able experimentalists of all times. Any optics book are routinely produced these days to be used for focusing
will show in the subject index that the entry: Fresnel is the hard x-ray beams (10-15 keV) at 3rd-generation synchrotron
longest one, encompassing in general between ten and radiation sources. Despite the name, Fresnel zone plates
twenty items. A good part of these entries are gadgets used have not been invented by Fresnel. The first mention to
in optics laboratories. One of the most popular gadgets is the the principle of increasing the light intensity by inserting a
Fresnel Zone Plate. It is a circular aperture made with rings half-period zone between source and observer is found in
of unequal radii. The central region of the zone plate may Lord Rayleigh notebook (April 11, 1871): The experiment

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 percorsi

of blocking out the odd Huygens zones so as to increase

the light at the center succeeded very well . There is no
question, however, that the notion of zone plates and their
behavior are entirely based on the new optical theory, much
of which is due to Fresnel. It is fitting, therefore, to associate
Fresnels name to the zone plates.
Another gadget frequently used in optics laboratories is
the so-called Fresnel Rhomb. It is a glass oblique-angled
parallelepiped (see fig. 2) whose principle of operation
is based on the fact that light beams internally reflected
in the rhomb undergo well-controlled phase shifts. A
plane-polarized light beam, falling perpendicular on the
shorter surface of the rhomb, is shown to be circularly
polarized when it gets out of the rhomb after two bounces of
internal reflections. In other words, a Fresnel rhomb converts
plane-polarized light into circularly polarized light. There are
other devices capable of doing this. Let us not forget that
the theory behind this particular scheme of operations was
being developed in the early part of the nineteenth century.
It was the theory of the new optics, based on the concept of
waves and the Huygens principle. It is particularly significant
therefore, that Fresnel actually constructed a glass rhomb of
the form illustrated in fig. 2 and tested its behavior against
theory.
The general principles of interference are invoked many,
many times in Fresnels memoirs. The basic notion that by by the source is a beam of thermal neutrons, for example.
removing screens in an optical setup you do not necessarily We have mentioned several times, in the course of this
increase the transmitted light, on the contrary, you quite article, Fresnels exceptional experimental ability. To really
often decrease it, is a dominant theme in the memoirs. appreciate this point, we will now touch on his forced country
One of the most direct experiments along this line is that vacation in Mathieu. Fresnel did not particularly welcome
one based on two flat mirrors, called appropriately: Fresnel Napoleons return from the Elba Island. The price he had
mirrors. It is a set of two identical mirrors, slightly rotated one to pay for his political orientation was an extended forced
with respect to the other by 1-2 degrees. This way, a point vacation in a small country town: Mathieu, near Caen, where
source is equivalent to two small, identical, very close point his mother had retired. Before going to Mathieu, however,
sources. The two sources are coherent because they originate he was allowed to spend a few days in Paris, which enabled
from the same source. In this case it is convenient to use a him to consult with some of the great scientist of his time,
description of light in terms of particles (photons). Using particularly with Arago, his mentor. Fresnel realized that he
inappropriate language (which leads, however, to a correct was facing a long period of isolation, so it was very important
description) we can say that the splitting of images produced for him to get some advice from a great scientist like Arago,
by the two mirrors has the effect of splitting each photon in who was in contact with the cutting edge of research of his
two half-photons (so to speak). Each half-photon can only time. Fresnel decided in the end to dedicate his research
interact with the other half, generated by the same photon, efforts to diffraction theory, while in Mathieu. Like Young,
so interference effects (fringes) will appear. In other words, he had immediately recognized that the phenomena of
this device, called Fresnel mirrors, is entirely equivalent to a shadows, which seemed to be the most difficult phenomena
setup of two coherent sources. When one of the two mirrors to be explained by the wave theory, offered in the particular
is taken away, the fringe system disappears. This proves that domain of diffraction, some irreconcilable difficulties for
interference effects are present. The two descriptions, in the Newtonian theory of light. Fresnel had understood how
terms of waves and photons, are equivalent. However, the important it was to acquire a detailed knowledge of these
photon description can more easily be applied to situations contradictions.
in which the wave description is problematic, namely, when In his isolation Fresnel had no micrometer to measure the
the intensity is exceedingly weak, and the radiation emitted width of the fringes he was planning to observe. He had no

60 < il nuovo saggiatore

 r. colella: fresnel, the prince of the opticians

heliostat, to stabilize the sun rays on a constant direction. of honey on a small hole drilled in a copper sheet. This way,
He fabricated himself a micrometer using some wires and Fresnel reports, it was possible to see sharp fringe images and
pieces of cardboard. He was able to minimize the movements accurately measure their widths.
of the sun by making use of a lens with short focal length. Fresnels ability to perform accurate measurements using
The locksmith of the town built for him some supporting primitive equipment place him in the same class of people
structures. He used them with great care and patience like Rutherford, Fermi, and others. Of Rutherford we will
to get some reasonably precise results, which he used to remember the famous experiment which showed that helium
revolutionize the optical theory. The results of these research was present in a glass tube which initially contained some
efforts were described in two fundamental Memoirs to be radium. Of Fermi: we will remember his great intuition when
presented by Arago to the Academy of Sciences, with an he decided, for no good reason, to shield a neutron source
interval of a few weeks one from the other. using paraffin instead of lead, an experiment which initiated
The starting point for Fresnels research efforts, we mentioned a whole new chapter in the development of neutron-induced
earlier, was the study of shadows. His experimental technique radioactivity. Fresnels drop of honey in a copper plate is in
consisted in making careful observations of the shadows the same category.
projected by a thin wire, and correlating with the theory
of interference. The most important component of the
experimental setup was a micrometer Fresnel built with his Acknowledgments
own hands. With this micrometer he could measure the width The author is indebted to his friend and colleague A. K.
of shadows with an accuracy of 1 fortieth of a millimeter. Ramdas, who suggested the initial idea of this article,
The micrometer consisted of two silk wires, issued from the and pointed out the interest for this subject. He was also
same point and terminating at two points separated by instrumental in locating suitable graphic materials from his
a distance of 5 mm. The observations were made with an rich collection.
eyepiece of short focal length, placed in such a way that the
wires were coincident with the focal point of the eyepiece.
A small movable piece of cardboard was used to mark the
position where the distance between the wires was equal to
the width of the shadow. A great patience was required to
use this rude micrometer, in which there was no calibrated
screw. Another problem with this micrometer was that it
could not be used to measure fringe widths greater than
5 mm. A better micrometer would have made life easier,
but this crude instrument was the only one Fresnel could
make with his own hands in a very short time. The results roberto colella
of several measurements are neatly reported in tables, with Roberto Colella was born in Milan (Italy) in 1935. He received his
complete explanations for the various columns of numbers. academic education at the University of Milan, where he obtaind
his doctoral degree in 1958. In 1961 he joined the staff of Euratom
Most of the fringe measurements were done using iron wire
Nuclear Research Center at Ispra (Italy) as a Research Scientist in the
1 mm in diameter. The experimental skills with which the Solid State Division, with Dr. A. Merlini. In 1967 he came to the U.S. as
measurements were executed are just unbelievable. a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University, Department
Fresnel realizes, at the end of a measuring cycle, that he of Materials Science and Engineering, with Prof. B.W. Batterman,
where he stayed until 1970.
needs to test the theory of shadows in the limit of a large He joined the Physics Faculty of Purdue University on September
distance between source and iron wire. He decided to use, as 1, 1971, as an assistant professor. He was tenured and promoted to
light source, a star, one of the brightest stars in the sky. Sure associate professor on July 1, 1975, and became a full professor on
enough, his diffraction theory is fully confirmed in the limit July 1, 1977.
During the academic year 1991-92 he was visiting professor at
of an infinite distance between source and iron wire. To verify the University of Paris-Sud (Laboratoire de Physique des Solids -
diffraction theory in the opposite limit, at short distance Orsay, France),and at the University of Paris VI and VII, Place Jussieu,
between source and diffracting wire, a small hole in a metal (Facultede Mineralogie et Cristallographie), Paris, (France).
His general field of research is in the area of diffraction physics,
sheet was initially used, placed close to a strong convergent
with applications to interferometry, and the phase problem in
lens. To operate at shorter distances, Fresnel could not find diffraction.
a converging lens of sufficiently small focal distance. Again,
his experimental ability helped him out of this problem. He
found a way to fabricate a small lens by depositing a drop

vol24 / no5-6 / anno2008 > 61