Erwin Schrodinger
Created | Updated Oct 4, 2004
Erwin Schrödinger was born on August 12, 1887 in Vienna Austria. He became a quantum physicist and his two greatest additions to the scientific world were quantum wave theory and Schrödinger’s cat. The it is unsure whether or not the latter was actually given by Schrödinger himself, one of his critics or one of his friends.
Growing up, Schrödinger was educated at home by private tutors until age 10 when he was enrolled in Gymnasium (the equivalent of high school). Afterwards, he went on to the University of Vienna in 1906, where he studied theoretical physics and math. In physics he studied analytical mechanics, applications of partial differential equations to dynamics, eigenvalue problems, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic theory, optics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. In mathematics he studied calculus and algebra, function theory, differential equations and mathematical statistics. It was the lectures in theoretical physics that particularly sparked his interest. He earned his four year doctorate after presenting a dissertation on The conduction of electricity on the surface of insulators in moist air.
In 1911, he joined the military for a year of voluntary service, and then he returned to the University of Vienna as an assistant in experimental physics rather than theoretical physics. It was his assistantship in the field that provided him with the groundwork for his later to come theories.
In 1914, with the break out of World War I, Schrödinger was called into armed service and stationed on the Italian border where he continued to work on his theories.
After the war, during which Schrödinger had published several papers, he returned to work at the University of Vienna where he gave lectures on meteorology, and started developing his theories on quantum mechanics.
In 1919 he became engaged to Anny Bertel, while working on theories of radioactivity at the University. Unfortunately, he was not earning enough to support her (her monthly earnings as a secretary were larger than his yearly earnings). He, therefore, went out for a professorship in Jena. After a few more moves, he ended up in Zurich. It was here that, while working with de Broglie’s theories, he came up with his theory of wave mechanics.
This theory states that the electron in a atom behave as both a waveform and a particle. This is due to the fact that, while the equation does work primarily under the idea that an electron is a wave, it is not actually accurate until one accounts for the particle spin of the electron. All this is under the area of Quantum theory, and therefore deals greatly with probability.
Due to this, the famous thought experiment “Schrödinger’s Cat” was devised. In this experiment, a cat is placed in a box with a bottle of hydro cyanic acid (cyanide), which is attached to an atom of some radioactive isotope. The vial, isotope, and cat are then sealed inside the box. The problem lies in the fact that the isotope has a 50% chance of degrading and breaking the vial. Because of this, the cat has a 50% chance of dying, but it is not observed. Therefore, the probability waveforms that the cat is dead and that it is alive exist simultaneously inside the box until the box is opened and the outcome observed, I.E. the cat exists in both a state of life and death simultaneously. The experiment is an illustration on the general implausibility of quantum physics when seen from an everyday viewpoint.
Schrödinger’s equation quickly gained much repute among quantum and atomic physicists, but, oddly enough, Schrödinger himself did not like it. He had hope that with this equation he could simplify quantum physics, but it did not. Instead, it just gave a more complete, if more complex, view of the atom. He later remarked to his father: “I don’t like it, and I wish I’d never had anything to do with it”.
Many physicist have come to hate quantum theory in general due to the incedibly large problems in our view of the Uinverse that it generates. Schrödinger hated his equation for the same reason, and he spent the rest of his life trying to simplify the theory to the point where it made sence.
Once the Nazis came to power in Germany, Schrödinger fled for Oxford where he joined Magdalen College. He did not fit in well at Oxford, however, and in 1936 he returned to Austria to work at the University of Graz. Two years latter, however, the Germans annexed Austria and he moved, briefly, to Italy and then to the United States. He then moved to Dublin to work in the newly formed Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. He stayed there until 1956, and then he moved back to Austria. He retired in 1958 following a severe illness from which he never fully recovered. Schrödinger died on January 4, 1961.
Growing up, Schrödinger was educated at home by private tutors until age 10 when he was enrolled in Gymnasium (the equivalent of high school). Afterwards, he went on to the University of Vienna in 1906, where he studied theoretical physics and math. In physics he studied analytical mechanics, applications of partial differential equations to dynamics, eigenvalue problems, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic theory, optics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. In mathematics he studied calculus and algebra, function theory, differential equations and mathematical statistics. It was the lectures in theoretical physics that particularly sparked his interest. He earned his four year doctorate after presenting a dissertation on The conduction of electricity on the surface of insulators in moist air.
In 1911, he joined the military for a year of voluntary service, and then he returned to the University of Vienna as an assistant in experimental physics rather than theoretical physics. It was his assistantship in the field that provided him with the groundwork for his later to come theories.
In 1914, with the break out of World War I, Schrödinger was called into armed service and stationed on the Italian border where he continued to work on his theories.
After the war, during which Schrödinger had published several papers, he returned to work at the University of Vienna where he gave lectures on meteorology, and started developing his theories on quantum mechanics.
In 1919 he became engaged to Anny Bertel, while working on theories of radioactivity at the University. Unfortunately, he was not earning enough to support her (her monthly earnings as a secretary were larger than his yearly earnings). He, therefore, went out for a professorship in Jena. After a few more moves, he ended up in Zurich. It was here that, while working with de Broglie’s theories, he came up with his theory of wave mechanics.
This theory states that the electron in a atom behave as both a waveform and a particle. This is due to the fact that, while the equation does work primarily under the idea that an electron is a wave, it is not actually accurate until one accounts for the particle spin of the electron. All this is under the area of Quantum theory, and therefore deals greatly with probability.
Due to this, the famous thought experiment “Schrödinger’s Cat” was devised. In this experiment, a cat is placed in a box with a bottle of hydro cyanic acid (cyanide), which is attached to an atom of some radioactive isotope. The vial, isotope, and cat are then sealed inside the box. The problem lies in the fact that the isotope has a 50% chance of degrading and breaking the vial. Because of this, the cat has a 50% chance of dying, but it is not observed. Therefore, the probability waveforms that the cat is dead and that it is alive exist simultaneously inside the box until the box is opened and the outcome observed, I.E. the cat exists in both a state of life and death simultaneously. The experiment is an illustration on the general implausibility of quantum physics when seen from an everyday viewpoint.
Schrödinger’s equation quickly gained much repute among quantum and atomic physicists, but, oddly enough, Schrödinger himself did not like it. He had hope that with this equation he could simplify quantum physics, but it did not. Instead, it just gave a more complete, if more complex, view of the atom. He later remarked to his father: “I don’t like it, and I wish I’d never had anything to do with it”.
Many physicist have come to hate quantum theory in general due to the incedibly large problems in our view of the Uinverse that it generates. Schrödinger hated his equation for the same reason, and he spent the rest of his life trying to simplify the theory to the point where it made sence.
Once the Nazis came to power in Germany, Schrödinger fled for Oxford where he joined Magdalen College. He did not fit in well at Oxford, however, and in 1936 he returned to Austria to work at the University of Graz. Two years latter, however, the Germans annexed Austria and he moved, briefly, to Italy and then to the United States. He then moved to Dublin to work in the newly formed Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. He stayed there until 1956, and then he moved back to Austria. He retired in 1958 following a severe illness from which he never fully recovered. Schrödinger died on January 4, 1961.
