M. PLANCK AND HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE QUANTA OF THE HEAT RADIATION

Abstract

The history of the discovery of the universal Kirchhoff function, i.e. the spectral distribution of the black body energy, is considered. The discovery of this function by M. Planck in December 1900 resulted in gradual development of quantum theory and led to appearance of quantum mechanics in 1925 - 1926, which was in fact the beginning of a new physical era - quantum physics.