Control theory Updated +Created
This basically adds one more ingredient to partial differential equations: a function that we can select.
And then the question becomes: if this function has such and such limitation, can we make the solution of the differential equation have such and such property?
It's quite fun from a mathematics point of view!
Control theory also takes into consideration possible discretization of the domain, which allows using numerical methods to solve partial differential equations, as well as digital, rather than analogue control methods.
Planck's law Updated +Created
Used to explain the black-body radiation experiment.
The Quantum Story by Jim Baggott (2011) page 9 mentions that Planck apparently immediately recognized that Planck constant was a new fundamental physical constant, and could have potential applications in the definition of the system of units (TODO where was that published):
Planck wrote that the constants offered: 'the possibility of establishing units of length, mass, time and temperature which are independent of specific bodies or materials and which necessarily maintain their meaning for all time and for all civilizations, even those which are extraterrestrial and nonhuman, constants which therefore can be called "fundamental physical units of measurement".'
This was a visionary insight, and was finally realized in the 2019 redefinition of the SI base units.
Video 1.
Quantum Mechanics 2 - Photons by ViaScience (2012)
Source. Contains a good explanation of how discretization + energy increases with frequency explains the black-body radiation experiment curve: you need more and more energy for small wavelengths, each time higher above the average energy available.