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Erwin Schrödinger

Austrian physicist (1887-1961) · Germany · Scientists · Died at 73

Erwin Schrödinger is read about 2,496 times a day, in 141 languages.

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The man who wrote the equation that predicts how quantum systems evolve - and who gave us the term "quantum entanglement" - is now mostly remembered for a cat that's simultaneously alive and dead in a box, a thought experiment he created to show how absurd the Copenhagen interpretation seemed.

ScientistsScientistPhysicsMathematics20th Century

A life in dates

2005Prix Paul Doistau-Émile Blutet de l’Information ScientifiqueAward1961Died4 January 19611959“I insist upon the view that 'all is waves'.”In their words9 November 1959Letter to John Lighton Synge (9 November 1959), as quoted by Walter Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989)

1957Austrian Decoration for Science and ArtAward1956Erwin Schrödinger PrizeAwardPrize of the City of Vienna for Natural SciencesAward1949Foreign Member of the Royal SocietyAward1946“God knows I am no friend of probability theory, I have hated it from the first moment when our dear friend Max Born gave it birth.”In their words13 June 1946Letter to Albert Einstein (13 June 1946), as quoted by Walter Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989)

1937Max Planck MedalAward1935“If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed.”In their wordsOn the conditions of the "Schrödinger's cat" thought-experiment, as presented in The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics (1935),

1933Nobel Prize in PhysicsAward1927Matteucci MedalAward1925“For thousands of years men have striven and suffered and begotten and women have brought forth in pain.”In their words"Seek for the Road" (1925)

1920Haitinger PrizeAward1918“The stages of human development are to strive for: (1) Besitz [Possession] (2) Wissen [Knowledge] (3) Können [Ability] (4) Sein [Being]”In their wordsAugust 1918Writings of August 1918, quoted in A Life of Erwin Schrödinger (1994) by Walter Moore

“No self is of itself alone. It has a long chain of intellectual ancestors. The "I" is chained to ancestry by many factors … This is not mere allegory, but an eternal memory.”In their wordsJuly 1918Writings of July 1918, quoted in A Life of Erwin Schrödinger (1994) by Walter Moore

1887Born12 August 1887

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Erwin Schrödinger - Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (1-E-939)Erwin Schrödinger - Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe (1-E-939)01 Universität Wien Aula NobelpreistraegerInnen derknopfdruecker com01 Universität Wien Aula NobelpreistraegerInnen derknopfdruecker comErwin Schrodinger2Erwin Schrodinger2Solvay conference, 1924Solvay conference, 1924Solvay conference 1927 (group photograph) bwSolvay conference 1927 (group photograph) bwSolvay conference 1927 (group photograph) with frameSolvay conference 1927 (group photograph) with frameSolvay conference 1927 (group photograph)Solvay conference 1927 (group photograph)Solvay conference 1927 restored sourceSolvay conference 1927 restored source

In their own words 10

,
Erwin Schrödinger
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. I insist upon the view that 'all is waves'.

    Nov 9, 1959, Letter to John Lighton Synge (9 November 1959), as quoted by Walter Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989), Own words

  2. we never experiment with just one electron or atom or (small) molecule. In thought-experiments we sometimes assume that we do.

    1952, "Are There Quantum Jumps? Part II (1952), Own words

  3. God knows I am no friend of probability theory, I have hated it from the first moment when our dear friend Max Born gave it birth.

    Jun 13, 1946, Letter to Albert Einstein (13 June 1946), as quoted by Walter Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989), Own words

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Awards

Prix Paul Doistau-Émile Blutet de l’Information Scientifique2005
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art1957
Erwin Schrödinger Prize1956
Prize of the City of Vienna for Natural Sciences1956
Foreign Member of the Royal Society1949
Max Planck Medal1937
Nobel Prize in Physics1933
Matteucci Medal1927
Haitinger Prize1920
Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order
Fellow of the American Physical Society
Pour le Mérite

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Erwin Schrödinger

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About this person

Erwin Schrödinger was born in Vienna on 12 August 1887 and trained as a theoretical physicist in Austria. He devised the Schrödinger equation, the core tool for calculating wave functions and their change over time, and for that work shared the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Paul Dirac. His range was wide: he wrote on statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, color theory, general relativity, cosmology, and unified field theory, and in "What Is Life?" he approached genetics through the lens of physics. He lived with his wife and mistress, a domestic arrangement that contributed to his departure from Oxford; he moved to Graz in 1938 but fled Austria when the Nazis took over, eventually settling in Dublin where he worked until 1955. He returned to Vienna the following year as an emeritus professor and died of tuberculosis on 4 January 1961. In 1989, allegations of sexual abuse of minors emerged.

Country
Germany
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1887 to 1961 · aged 73

In common with Erwin

Max PlanckBoth received Max Planck MedalWilhelm RöntgenBoth received Matteucci MedalHenri PoincaréBoth received Matteucci MedalWerner HeisenbergBoth received Max Planck MedalMarietta BlauBoth received Haitinger PrizeEnrico FermiBoth received Max Planck Medal

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