science

Max Picard

Max Picard is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Max Picard rather than just read about it. In short: Max Picard (5 June 1888 in Schopfheim, Baden, Germany – 3 October 1965 in Sorengo, Switzerland) was a German-Swiss writer and philosopher. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Schopfheim, a German village on the Swiss border, Max Picard studied medicine and received his medical degree in 1911.

Key takeaways

Max Picard belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Max Picard to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Max Picard from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Max Picard (5 June 1888 in Schopfheim, Baden, Germany – 3 October 1965 in Sorengo, Switzerland) was a German-Swiss writer and philosopher.

Biography Born to a Jewish family in Schopfheim, a German village on the Swiss border, Max Picard studied medicine and received his medical degree in 1911. He practiced medicine, first in Heidelberg and later in Munich. Unsatisfied with the positivist and Darwinian orientations of the medical profession at the time, he began as of 1915 to distance himself from it to turn more towards philosophy. In 1919, he immigrated to Switzerland, first to Locarno and later to Brissago. In 1929, he completed work on Das Menschengesicht (The Human Face). In 1934, Die Flucht vor Gott (The Flight From God) was published. He developed a friendship with fellow immigrant and artist Gunter Böhmer in the late 1930s. In 1939, Picard converted to Roman Catholicism from the Judaism of his youth. He first met the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel in 1947, and developed a friendship and steady correspondence throughout their lives (published in 2006). Marcel provided the foreword to the first French translation of Picard's Die Welt des Schweigens (The World of Silence) in 1953. Picard received the Johann-Peter-Hebel-Preis in 1952. Emmanuel Levinas praised Picard's work in Levinas' collection Noms propres (Proper Names) in 1976.

Selected books 1917 Expressionistische Bauernmalerei [Expressionist Folk Painting]. München: Delphin 1921 Der letzte Mensch [The Last Man]. Leipzig: E. T. Tal & Co. 1930 Das Menschengesicht [The Human Face]. München: Delphin (published in English in 1931) 1934 Die flucht vor Gott [The Flight From God]. Erlenbach: Rentsch (published in English in 1952) 1947 Hitler in uns selbst [Hitler in Our Selves]. Erlenbach: Rentsch (published in English in 1947) 1948 Die Welt des Schweigens [The World of Silence]. Erlenbach-Zürich/Konstanz: Rensch 1954 Die Atomisierung der Modernen Künste [The Atomization of Modern Arts]. Hamburg: Furche

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Max Picard

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Max Picard claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Max Picard before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Max Picard ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Max Picard

In research: Max Picard appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Max Picard in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Max Picard is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1888 births, 1965 deaths, 19th-century German Jews, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Max Picard outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Max Picard in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Max Picard means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Max Picard out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Max Picard in simple terms?

Max Picard (5 June 1888 in Schopfheim, Baden, Germany – 3 October 1965 in Sorengo, Switzerland) was a German-Swiss writer and philosopher. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Schopfheim, a German village on the Swiss border, Max Picard studied medicine and received his medical degree in 1911.

Why does Max Picard matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Max Picard?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Max Picard.