Max Planck

Max Planck (1858–1947) was the German physicist who founded quantum theory by introducing the quantum of action (Planck’s constant) in 1900 to explain black-body radiation, work for which he received the 1918 Nobel Prize.

This is bedrock, legitimate physics: the entire quantum revolution descends from his insight that energy is exchanged in discrete packets. He was a conservative, rigorous scientist and a pillar of the German physics establishment, not a mystic.

Planck’s appearance in mind-power literature rests almost entirely on selective quotation. A widely circulated remark — “I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness” (from a 1931 interview) and his statement that behind every force “we must assume the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind” — is endlessly cited as proof that the father of quantum physics believed mind creates reality.

In context, Planck’s view was closer to a philosophical/theistic position about an underlying intelligent order, expressed late in life, and it had nothing to do with manifestation, the Law of Attraction, or “observer creates reality” in the magical sense.

Quoting him this way is a textbook case of borrowing the prestige of foundational science. His actual physics does not support consciousness-creates-reality claims. Tier: legitimate-science; the mind-power usage is misappropriation via quotation.