Max Planck

A biographical overview

Apr. 23, 1858    Born in Kiel

1867                  Moved to Munich

1874 – 1879    Studied physics in Munich and Berlin

1879                  Doctorate

1880                  Habilitation thesis, subsequently appointed private lecturer at the Ludwig  Maximilians University, Munich

1885                  Appointed associate professor of theoretical physics at the Christian Albrecht University, Kiel

1887                  Marriage to Marie Merck

1888                  Birth of son Karl (killed in action 1916)

1889                  Appointed associate professor of theoretical physics at the Friedrich Wilhelms University, Berlin

1889                  Birth of twin daughters Emma (died 1919) and Grete (died 1917)

1892                  Appointed full professor

1893                  Birth of son Erwin (executed Jan. 23, 1945)

1894                  Elected full member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences

1900                  Publication of radiation law and first application of quantum theory

1908                  Appointed Privy Councillor

1909                  Death of wife Marie

1911                  Marriage to Marga von Hoesslin, birth of son Hermann (died 1954)

1912 - 1938      Permanent secretary to the Prussian Academy of Sciences

1913 - 1914      Appointed rector of the University of Berlin

1918                  Nobel Prize for Physics (received 1920)

1926                  Emeritus

1930 - 1937      Elected President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society

1943                  Moved to Rogätz/Elbe

1945                  Evacuated to Göttingen

1946                  Named Honorary President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, later the Max Planck Society

Oct. 4, 1947      Died in Göttingen