Q 01/05

For which year was Planck awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, 'for his discovery of energy quanta'?

A) 1918

B) 1921

C) 1925

D) 1930

Answer · why

A) 1918

He actually received the award in 1919, and told his son the discovery was comparable only to Newton's.

Q 02/05

In which German city was Planck born in 1858?

A) Munich

B) Berlin

C) Kiel

D) Hamburg

Answer · why

C) Kiel

His father taught law at the university there; the family moved to Munich when he was nine.

Q 03/05

Planck was baptised with which given name, which he had swapped for 'Max' by the age of ten?

A) Maximilian

B) Marx

C) Markus

D) Matthias

Answer · why

B) Marx

It was recorded as his 'appellation name', but he signed himself Max for the rest of his life.

Q 04/05

Planck's father was a university professor of which subject?

A) Theology

B) Medicine

C) Physics

D) Law

Answer · why

D) Law

His grandfather and great-grandfather had both been theology professors at Gottingen.

Q 05/05

One of Planck's earliest memories was of Prussian and Austrian troops marching into his home town during which war?

A) The Franco-Prussian War

B) The Austro-Prussian War

C) The Crimean War

D) The Second Schleswig War

Answer · why

D) The Second Schleswig War

He was six at the time; war was a constant background of his childhood.