06-29-2011, 02:18 AM
Duh, I think I found the answer to my question - in Wikipedia. Don't know why I didn't look there earlier:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant#Origins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant#Origins
Planck hypothesized that the equations of motion for light are a set of harmonic oscillators, one for each possible frequency. He examined how the entropy of the oscillators varied with the temperature of the body, trying to match Wien's law, and was able to derive an approximate mathematical function for black-body spectrum.[4]
However, Planck soon realized that his solution was not unique. There were several different solutions, each of which gave a different value for the entropy of the oscillators[4]. To save his theory, Planck had to resort to using the then controversial theory of statistical mechanics,[4] which he described as "an act of despair … I was ready to sacrifice any of my previous convictions about physics."[5] One of his new boundary conditions was to interpret UNnot as a continuous, infinitely divisible quantity, but as a discrete quantity composed of an integral number of finite equal parts.