Book Review: Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War by Brandon R. Brown
“He’d seen his colleagues, including Lise, driven from the Fatherland. He’d seen the ever-advancing thresher of new laws, first limiting, then persecuting, then gathering Jews along with other Nazi targets. He must have known of the inhuman trains, even if he didn’t know their destination.”
This book focuses not only on Max Planck’s contributions to the scientific community, but his contribution to his his county, family, friends, and fellow scientists during one of the most harrowing times of Germany’s history. Planck had jewish friends and was often mocked as being a “white jew” himself, his standing as a credible physicist taking dire blows because of his association with the jews. But through it all, he also did not give up on his fatherland.
The book is well written- the author including several quotes about Planck from his friends and former students. It also includes Planck’s involvement with other physicists including Albert Einstein. The author is even comical at times, comparing Planck’s “Phantom Problems” to “The Ultimate Question” in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Overall, Planck was an intriguing read with insightful information on the life of the physicist. I recommend this book to fans of autobiographies or anyone looking to dig just a little deeper into the life of Planck.
