A Derivation of Planck's Constant h

The Planck constant h is one of the most fundamental constants in nature. Found by Max Planck as the energy per frequency ratio in the radiation sent out by a black body in 1900, Neils Bohr used it to define discrete circular orbits of electrons around protons that have rotational momenta of multiples of h. How this discretion comes into existence is unexplained in Bohr's theory and also in quantum mechanics that builds on it. This book shows that tackling the problem of orbiting electrons in the framework of the general relativistic Einstein-Maxwell theory yields distinctive circular orbits, which are identical with the Bohr orbits. Thus, the discretion of the orbits and the value of h are consequences of the theory of general relativity. The book also derives generalized Kepler ellipses as shape functions of the general relativistic orbits, which can be expressed in terms of elliptic functions.