J. W. STRUTT (LORD RAYLEIGH) AND HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE RAYLEIGH-JEANS LAW OF THERMAL RADIATION

Abstract

The paper discusses the history of the discovery of the Rayleigh–Jeans law of thermal radiation. This discovery was an important step in the prehistory of the discovery of the universal Kirchhoff function. The discovery of this function by M. Planck in December 1900 led to the gradual development of quantum theory and to the appearance of quantum mechanics in 1925–1926, which was in fact the beginning of a new physical era, i.e. quantum physics.