  On December 14. 1900, Max Planck communicated his derivation of his radiation
formula, which he later called ``an act of desperation''. This date is widely
recognized as birthday of quantum theory. For Planck it meant the end of his
carefully planned and ambitious research project, in which he wanted to
establish the second law of thermodynamics as strictly deterministic law for
systems of matter and electromagnetic radiation in interaction. He knew he
could not succeed within classical mechanics, but had the somewhat strange hope
that the inclusion of Maxwell's electrodynamics would change the situation.
Later he always disagreed with Einstein's light-quantum hypothesis, because it
implied a renunciation from Maxwell's theory, which in Germany gained full
recognition and acceptance as late as the 1890's, mainly through the
theoretical and experimental work of Heinrich Hertz.
