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Fun, I learned today that something I've believed my entire adult life is wrong.
Almost every introduction to quantum mechanics says it began with Max Planck trying to resolve a terrible problem: the classical description of light gives rise to an "ultraviolet catastrophe": basically, it predicts you end up with infinite energy densities in the EM field(!)
It seems this is quite wrong, historically, and this paper tries to tell what actually happens: https://www.equipes.lps.u-psud.fr/Montambaux/histoire-physique/planck-history-klein-1962.pdf
I must admit, I'm now wondering if I've ever used the commonplace story in anything published? I hope not!
And @BrianTHeligman points out that @johncarlosbaez is informatively on the case, as so often! https://twitter.com/johncarlosbaez/status/1218217933962272768
Ah, found it, on page 2 of my book "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information"
(Apologies to any readers!)
(Apologies to any readers!)
