Solution
Max Planck solved the problem by postulating that electromagnetic energy did not follow the classical description, but could only be emitted in discrete packets of energy proportional to the frequency, as given by Planck's law. This has the effect of reducing the number of possible excited modes with a given frequency in the cavity described above, and thus the average energy at those frequencies. The radiated power eventually goes to zero at infinite frequencies, and the total predicted power is finite. The formula for the radiated power for the idealized system (black body) was in line with known experiments, and came to be called Planck's law of black body radiation. Based on past experiments, Planck was also able to determine the value of its parameter, now called Planck's constant. The packets of energy later came to be called photons, and played a key role in the quantum description of electromagnetism.
Read more about this topic: Ultraviolet Catastrophe
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