Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was born on 23 April 1858 in Kiel, Holstein, Germany to Johann Planck and his second wife, Emma Patzig. Max Planck went to school in Munich, where he studied mathematics, mechanics and astronomy. He was also a talented musician – singing and playing the piano, organ and cello. However, he chose to study physics at the University of Munich in 1874.
Despite being advised by his supervisor to avoid theoretical physics, he went on to study at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin with Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff. There he specialised in thermodynamics, earning a doctorate and the highest degree available in Europe, the habilitation – a requirement for full professorship.
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