Erwin Schrödinger(1887 — 1961)
Erwin Schrödinger
Allemagne, Troisième Reich, Cisleithanie
8 min read
Austrian physicist (1887–1961), Nobel Prize in Physics 1933. He formulated the wave equation that bears his name, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, and devised the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« If all this damned quantum jumping were really here to stay, I should be sorry I ever got involved with quantum theory.»
« Consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular.»
Key Facts
- 1887: born in Vienna, Austria
- 1926: formulation of the Schrödinger equation, foundation of wave mechanics
- 1933: Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with Paul Dirac
- 1935: publication of the Schrödinger's cat paradox, intended as a critique of the Copenhagen interpretation
- 1944: publication of *What Is Life?*, a work that influenced molecular biology
Works & Achievements
A series of four foundational papers in which Schrödinger formulates his wave equation, providing a rigorous mathematical framework for quantum mechanics. This equation describes the time evolution of a quantum system and remains the central tool of modern quantum physics.
A paper in which Schrödinger introduces his famous cat paradox to critique the probabilistic Copenhagen interpretation. He also coins the concept of quantum entanglement (Verschränkung), a fundamental notion for contemporary quantum technologies.
A book based on public lectures in which Schrödinger applies the principles of quantum physics to biological phenomena. It directly inspired Watson and Crick in their discovery of the structure of DNA, making this book a bridge between physics and molecular biology.
A philosophical essay in which Schrödinger traces the Greek roots of modern scientific thought. He examines the philosophical foundations of physics by placing them alongside pre-Socratic conceptions of the world.
A collection of lectures on the relationship between consciousness and the physical world, influenced by Vedantic philosophy. Schrödinger argues that consciousness is one and indivisible, in opposition to reductive materialism.
Anecdotes
In 1935, Schrödinger devised a thought experiment to expose the absurdities of the Copenhagen interpretation: a cat locked in a box with a radioactive device would, according to quantum physics, be simultaneously alive and dead as long as the box remained unopened. The paradox of “Schrödinger's cat” was never performed with a real animal, but it remains one of the most famous scientific metaphors in history.
It was during a solitary retreat in Arosa, in the Swiss Alps, at Christmas 1925, that Schrödinger formulated his revolutionary wave equation. In a few weeks of intense concentration, he laid the mathematical foundations of wave mechanics, transforming the understanding of the atom. He himself admitted not knowing where that sudden burst of inspiration had come from.
When Hitler came to power in January 1933, Schrödinger, deeply hostile to Nazism, voluntarily left Germany — all the more remarkable given that he was not Jewish. He publicly declared that he could not remain in a country where his colleagues were being persecuted. This act earned him the admiration of the international scientific community.
In 1940, Éamon de Valera, Ireland's Prime Minister and a trained mathematician, created the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies specifically to welcome Schrödinger, who worked there for seventeen years. Ireland thus became his refuge and adopted homeland, granting him Irish citizenship.
His book “What Is Life?” (1944) had an unexpected influence on molecular biology: in it he suggested that genetic information must be encoded in a stable aperiodic molecule. Both James Watson and Francis Crick acknowledged having been inspired by reading it before discovering the double helix of DNA in 1953.
Primary Sources
I wish to show first, in as simple a manner as possible, that the usual Sommerfeld-Wilson quantization rule can be replaced by another postulate, in which integers no longer appear.
One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber with the following diabolical device... The living cat and the dead cat are not mutually exclusive states as long as the box has not been opened.
We have identified the chromosomal substance with an aperiodic solid, in which each group of atoms plays an individual role, not compensated by the repetition of identical elements.
The fundamental idea of wave mechanics is to consider that the motion of a particle is not described by a trajectory, but by a wave function whose squared amplitude gives the probability density of its presence.
Key Places
Schrödinger's birthplace, born on August 12, 1887, in the Erdberg district. He completed his secondary and university studies there, and died in Vienna on January 4, 1961.
It was during his time in Zurich (1921–1927) that Schrödinger formulated his wave equation between December 1925 and January 1926. The city of Zurich was the intellectual cradle of his greatest discovery.
It was in this village in the Graubünden Alps, during a Christmas retreat in 1925, that Schrödinger had the decisive insight that led him to formulate the wave equation — in a state of intense concentration, far from the bustle of academic life.
Schrödinger held the chair of theoretical physics in Berlin from 1927 to 1933, succeeding Max Planck himself. There he worked alongside Einstein and the greatest scientific minds of the era, before fleeing the Nazi regime.
Founded in 1940 at the initiative of Éamon de Valera to welcome Schrödinger, this institute became his intellectual home for seventeen years. There he wrote his major philosophical works and trained generations of Irish physicists.
