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Isn't black body radiation a problem that drove scientists crazy for many years before Einstein found an explanation that got him a Nobel prize. That explanatio
by GuB-42 5y ago
Isn't black body radiation a problem that drove scientists crazy for many years before Einstein found an explanation that got him a Nobel prize. That explanation is what started the huge mess that is quantum physics.
So I don't think anyone can be blamed for not getting it intuitively.
- CamperBob2 5y agoYep. It was literally a catastrophe for the traditionalists in physics.
- NextHendrix 5y agoAnd literally referred to as the Ultraviolet Catastrophe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_catastrophe https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraviolet_catastrophe
- gmueckl 5y agoI'm not 100% sure whether or not you're attributing the right physicist here ;). Max Planck wrote about quantized energy emissions from black bodies first in 1900. With this assumption, the spectrum of black body radiation could be derived successfully. That won him the Nobel Price in 1919. Albert Einstein postulated that light itself was quantized in one of his famous series of papers in 1905. This paper won him the Nobel Price in 1922. [Side note: confusingly, Max Planck was awarded the 1918 Nobel Price and Albert Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Price. This happened because the committee decided in 1918 and again in 1921 that none of the candidates met their standards and withheld the price for later.]
- 3pt14159 5y agoHa! I didn't know that. Well, I feel a bit better now. Normally the old physics engine in my head could handle stuff, but that one was impossible. Thanks for sharing.