This Day In History, 1900

The Birth of Quantum Theory

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German physicist Max Planck publishes his groundbreaking study of the effect of radiation on a "blackbody" substance, and the quantum theory of modern physics is born.

Through physical experiments, Planck demonstrated that energy, in certain situations, can exhibit characteristics of physical matter. According to theories of classical physics, energy is solely a continuous wave-like phenomenon, independent of the characteristics of physical matter. Planck's theory held that radiant energy is made up of particle-like components, known as "quantum." The theory helped to resolve previously unexplained natural phenomena such as the behavior of heat in solids and the nature of light absorption on an atomic level. In 1918, Planck was rewarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on blackbody radiation.

Other scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Louis de Broglie, Erwin Schrodinger, and Paul M. Dirac, advanced Planck's theory and made possible the development of quantum mechanics--a mathematical application of the quantum theory that maintains that energy is both matter and a wave, depending on certain variables. Quantum mechanics thus takes a probabilistic view of nature, sharply contrasting with classical mechanics, in which all precise properties of objects are, in principle, calculable. Today, the combination of quantum mechanics with Einstein's theory of relativity is the basis of modern physics.
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Novel Progress

As of today, I have just finished the first draft of Part One of the novel. This first part is approximately 46,000 words in length. If Part Two and Part Three end up the same length, my 100,000 word novel will end up more like 140,000 words. (I doubt that will happen, though.)

The next step is to go back to the Outline and make some important changes, based upon what has already been written. Then I need to expand the Outline so I have a better handle on Part Two and Part Three.

This always feels strange to me. On the one hand, I know that doing the Outline is a necessary part of writing the novel. It's work that needs to be done for the project to be completed.

On the other hand, something in me resists that notion. Even as I work on the outline, since I'm not able to add to the word count as I do so, I feel as if it's not really getting anything accomplished.

From yesterday's Metropolitan Diary (New York Times)

Sign taped to lamppost outside Pamela Feiring's apartment building: "LOST: 18-karat gold wedding band of great sentimental value."

Penciled underneath: "Answers to 'My precious.'"