Albion College Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium

 Title: Planck's Unphysical Assumption: The Discretization that Began the Quantum Revolution Speaker: Aaron MillerAssistant ProfessorPhysicsAlbion College Abstract: In this talk I will present a portion of the monumental work of Max Planck in his study of the thermal equilibrium between physical solids and radiation fields. In his work, Planck turned a single integral into a summation in order to get his model to match laboratory measurements. This mathematical assumption was profoundly unsatisfying (from a physical point of view) and Planck only intended it to stay in physics until a more satisfactory theory was developed. However, his assumption has born the test of experiment and spawned the field of "quantum mechanics," easily argued as the most successful physical theory in the history of physics. Location: Palenske 227 Date: 3/8/2007 Time: 3:10 PM

@abstract{MCS:Colloquium:AaronMillerAssistantProfessorPhysicsAlbionCollege:2007:3:8,
author  = "{Aaron MillerAssistant ProfessorPhysicsAlbion College}",
title   = "{Planck's Unphysical Assumption: The Discretization that Began the Quantum Revolution}",
address = "{Albion College Mathematics and Computer Science Colloquium}",
month   = "{8 March}",
year    = "{2007}"
}