Planck's early career

Max Planck was typically straightforward and honest about his early career, as can be learned from his short scientific autobiography. He studied under Helmholtz and Kirchhoff in Berlin, but in his own words

It is reassuring to students struggling to understand physics that even the greatest of physicists are sometimes inadequate as university teachers. In my own experience, although the best physicists are very often the most inspiring lecturers, there is considerable variation in their degree of commitment to passing on the torch to the next generation. We have all had to put up with the uneven quality of the lecturers who happen to be delivering courses. In the end, however, we have to understand the material ourselves rather than be spoon-fed, and so perhaps it is not as disastrous as it might seem at first sight. Indeed, one might argue that a bad lecturer requires the student to think harder about the material, which is a good thing – let me hasten to add that this is no excuse for bad lecturing!

Planck's research interests were inspired by his reading of the works of Clausius and he set about investigating how the second law of thermodynamics could be applied to a wide variety of different physical problems, as well as elaborating as clearly as possible the basic tenets of the subject.