According to E.D. Hirsh there are questions that every literate American should be able to answer.  Who is Max Planck?  What does the phrase “fin de siecle” mean?

Since I did not know the answer.  so I went to look it up.

Max Planck was a German physicist, known as the founder of quantum theory.  Planck came up with the mathematical solution to explain the nature of black-body radiation.  Planck won the Nobel Prize in 1918 and together with Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity his quantum theory changed physics. 

“Fin de siecle” is a french phrase often used to refer to the characteristic world weary mood of European culture in the 1880s and 1890s.  It is also used to characterize anything that has an ominous mixture of decadance combined with a shared prospect of an unavoidable radical change or approaching an end. A modern day ”fin de siecle” would be Y2k.

Great information to for trivia pursuit.  Enjoy learning something new.