PHYSICIST

Max Planck

1858 - 1947

Photo of Max Planck

Icon of person Max Planck

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (; German: [maks ˈplaŋk] ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical physics, but his fame as a physicist rests primarily on his role as the originator of quantum theory and one of the founders of modern physics, which revolutionized understanding of atomic and subatomic processes. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Max Planck has received more than 4,346,624 page views. His biography is available in 142 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 135 in 2019). Max Planck is the 7th most popular physicist (up from 8th in 2019), the 26th most popular biography from Germany (up from 29th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular German Physicist.

Max Planck is most famous for his work in quantum physics. He was able to show that light is not a continuous wave, but instead comes in packets of energy called quanta.

Memorability Metrics

  • 4.3M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 82.51

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 142

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 15.91

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.42

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Max Planck ranks 7 out of 851. Before him are Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Wilhelm Röntgen, Stephen Hawking, and Michael Faraday. After him are Alessandro Volta, Hans Christian Ørsted, Pierre Curie, Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, and James Prescott Joule.

Most Popular Physicists in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1858, Max Planck ranks 1. After him are Émile Durkheim, Giacomo Puccini, Selma Lagerlöf, Theodore Roosevelt, Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Gustaf V of Sweden, Rudolf Diesel, Georg Simmel, Omar Mukhtar, Emmeline Pankhurst, and Giuseppe Peano. Among people deceased in 1947, Max Planck ranks 1. After him are Henry Ford, Al Capone, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Philipp Lenard, Christian X of Denmark, Rudolf Höss, Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, Aleister Crowley, Kurt Lewin, George II of Greece, and Jozef Tiso.

Others Born in 1858

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1947

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Max Planck ranks 26 out of 7,253. Before him are George Frideric Handel (1685), Wilhelm Röntgen (1845), Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837), Frederick the Great (1712), Robert Schumann (1810), and Friedrich Engels (1820). After him are Johannes Brahms (1833), Karl Dönitz (1891), Anne Frank (1929), Friedrich Schiller (1759), Martin Heidegger (1889), and Hermann Hesse (1877).

Others born in Germany

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among PHYSICISTS In Germany

Among physicists born in Germany, Max Planck ranks 3. Before him are Albert Einstein (1879), and Wilhelm Röntgen (1845). After him are Werner Heisenberg (1901), Georg Ohm (1789), Heinrich Hertz (1857), Max Born (1882), Max von Laue (1879), Hermann von Helmholtz (1821), J. Hans D. Jensen (1907), Johannes Stark (1874), and Otto von Guericke (1602).

German born Physicists

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous