Brandon R. Brown, Professor of Physics,
University of San Francisco (USF)
Author, Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War

Most recent email: 4 May 2017

Dear Prof. Dr. Brown:

Your book, Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken By War has become a favorite.  I am a bit confused, however, because it seems that my original source, the Oxford University Press  blog: https://blog.oup.com/2015/11/max-planck-albert-einstein that your work is being paraphrased by Julie Fergus. Is that correct? I have selected a few quotes from the blog. From which source would you prefer that I quote?

By the way, you might enjoy seeing our work resulting from the NASA SpaceApps Challenge last weekend.  We are slowly being nudged along!

Overview: https://81018.com/nasa1

Oh, yes, you may also enjoy this note to Ed Witten at Institute for Advanced Studies: https://81018.com/witten

-Bruce

PS. Probable quotes of your work for which I am ever grateful:

Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War

“Today, Max Planck is recognized for “discovering” Albert Einstein and his radical theories. In 1905, Einstein lacked both a PhD and a university teaching position. However, Planck almost instantly supported Einstein’s relativity theory, and in part through Planck’s backing, Einstein became a key figure among the scientific community.”  page 16ff

“With Planck’s unwavering support, however, understanding of the brilliance of Einstein’s theories slowly spread. Planck was one of the first scientist following Einstein to publish a paper on general relativity, and he encouraged the publication of all five of Einstein’s radical papers in Annalen der Physik—a journal in which Planck served on the editorial board in 1906….”

“Planck enjoyed arguing that science and religion support one another in that the premise for both is that “there exists a rational world order independent from man” and “that the character of the world order can never be directly known but can only be indirectly recognized or suspected” (“Religion and Natural Science” in Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers).”

“…the two maintained a deeply rooted friendship stemming from their shared devotion to a search for fundamental truths. ”

Planck becomes a Nobel laureate in 1918; Einstein in 1921

“A favorite trio formed between Planck, his son Erwin, and Albert Einstein — who played the violin”

First email:  11 April 2017

Brandon Brown, Professor
Harney Science Center 132
University of San Francisco

Author: Planck: Driven by Vision, Broken by War. Oxford, UK

Dear Prof. Dr. Brandon Brown:

I appreciated finding these pages on the web and had to thank you:
https://blog.oup.com/2015/11/max-planck-albert-einstein/

Being entirely idiosyncratic, I had commented about the relation, (between Planck and Einstein) but it was based on very little scholarship:
https://81018.com/c/

Our work is within a high school and uses base-2 notation from the Planck units to the Age of the Universe (and today).

Our simple chart is just filled with speculations:
https://81018.com/chart

Given your work and emphasis on innovation, I thought you might find our work of some amusing interest!

Best wishes,
Bruce
http://81018.com