Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger entered the world on the 12th of August 1887 in Vienna. He was the only child of Rudolf Schrödinger, a botanist, and Georgine Emilia Brenda Bauer, who came from a family of chemistry professors at TU Wien. His mother held half Austrian and half English descent while his father practiced Catholicism and his mother followed Lutheranism. The young Erwin grew up as an atheist yet used religious imagery throughout his life to describe happiness and scientific discovery. He learned English outside school because his maternal grandmother was British. From 1906 until 1910 he studied under Franz S. Exner and Friedrich Hasenöhrl at the University of Vienna. He earned his Ph.D. under Hasenöhrl in 1910 after conducting experimental work with Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Fritz Kohlrausch. The following year he became an assistant to Exner and completed his habilitation in 1914.
In January 1926 Schrödinger published a paper titled Quantization as an Eigenvalue Problem in Annalen der Physik. This document presented what is now known as the Schrödinger equation for wave mechanics. It gave a derivation of the wave equation for time-independent systems and showed it produced correct energy eigenvalues for hydrogen-like atoms. A second paper submitted four weeks later solved problems involving quantum harmonic oscillators and rigid rotors. A third paper published in May demonstrated equivalence between his approach and Werner Heisenberg's matrix mechanics. A fourth paper introduced complex solutions to prevent high-order differential equations from occurring. These papers created a revolution across most areas of physics and chemistry. Yet Schrödinger himself disliked the probabilistic interpretation developed by Max Born. He once told students that Göttingen physicists used his beautiful wave mechanics to calculate their matrix elements while calling them shitty.
Schrödinger left Germany in 1933 because he strongly disapproved of Nazi antisemitism. He became a Fellow of Magdalen College at Oxford but his unconventional domestic arrangements caused friction there. In 1934 he lectured at Princeton University yet declined a permanent position offered to him. After visa delays prevented him from taking a post at Edinburgh, he accepted a chair at Graz in 1936. The Anschluss occurred in 1938 when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. His known opposition to Nazism led to dismissal from Graz for political unreliability. He fled to Italy with his wife before taking visiting positions at Oxford and Ghent universities. In 1939 Éamon de Valera personally invited him to reside in Dublin. The following year he joined the newly established Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies as Director of the School of Theoretical Physics. He held this position until retirement in 1955 while living modestly on Kincora Road in Clontarf.
In 1944 Schrödinger wrote What Is Life which discussed negentropy and complex molecules containing genetic codes. James D. Watson later described how this book inspired his research into genes leading to discovery of DNA structure in 1953. Francis Crick also noted influence from Schrödinger's speculations about storing genetic information in molecules. The text contained discussions of physics applied to biological problems regarding life itself. A manuscript titled Fragment from an unpublished dialogue of Galileo resurfaced years later after being written for Trinity College Dublin's Blue Coat edition in 1955. This work remains highly influential at the university where buildings bear his name today. Annual conferences began in his honor following a series of three major lectures given there in 1943.
Schrödinger had deep interests in philosophy influenced by Arthur Schopenhauer and Baruch Spinoza. In his 1956 lecture Mind and Matter he stated that the world extended in space and time is but our representation. Schopenhauer introduced him to Indian philosophy specifically Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta interpretations. He questioned why billions of worlds exist if observation creates reality yet all synchronize together. There must be unification of minds or consciousnesses according to his thinking since multiplicity appears only apparent. He expressed sympathy for tat tvam asi stating one can throw oneself flat upon Mother Earth with conviction of oneness. Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms because it is absolutely fundamental. He anticipated many-worlds interpretation suggesting different superposition terms evolve simultaneously rather than as alternatives.
Around 1926 at age thirty-nine Schrödinger tutored fourteen-year-old Itha Junger known as Ithi. Walter Moore's 1989 biography describes lessons including petting and cuddling where Schrödinger fell in love with his pupil. They became lovers shortly after her seventeenth birthday and she became pregnant in 1932 at age twenty. She arranged an abortion despite his attempt to persuade her to keep the child without offering divorce from Anny. A 2021 Irish Times article summarized this as predilection for teenage girls denouncing him as serial abuser fitting paedophile profile. His grandson and mother broke contact after publication due to unhappiness with accusations. Carlo Rovelli noted he kept multiple relationships going making no secret of fascination with preadolescent girls. The physics department of Trinity College Dublin announced January 2022 recommendation to rename a lecture theatre named since the 1990s while removing his picture.
Schrödinger died of tuberculosis on the 4th of January 1961 in Vienna at age seventy-three though not Catholic. He was buried in Catholic cemetery Alpbach after priest relented upon learning membership in Pontifical Academy of Sciences. His portrait appeared on Austrian 1000-schilling banknotes between 1983 and 1997 as highest denomination feature. Schrödinger crater exists on far side of Moon bearing his name. Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics founded in Vienna in 1992. Buildings honor him at University of Limerick Ireland and Erwin Schrödinger Zentrum in Adlershof Berlin. Route Schrödinger runs through CERN Prévessin France. Google celebrated his 126th birthday anniversary in 2013 with a special Doodle. Awards include Matteucci Medal from Italy in 1927 and Nobel Prize in Physics shared with Paul Dirac in 1933.
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Common questions
When was Erwin Schrödinger born and where did he enter the world?
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger entered the world on the 12th of August 1887 in Vienna. He was the only child of Rudolf Schrödinger, a botanist, and Georgine Emilia Brenda Bauer.
What major scientific contribution did Erwin Schrödinger make in January 1926?
In January 1926 Schrödinger published a paper titled Quantization as an Eigenvalue Problem in Annalen der Physik. This document presented what is now known as the Schrödinger equation for wave mechanics.
Why did Erwin Schrödinger leave Germany in 1933 and where did he go next?
Schrödinger left Germany in 1933 because he strongly disapproved of Nazi antisemitism. He became a Fellow of Magdalen College at Oxford but his unconventional domestic arrangements caused friction there.
How did Erwin Schrödinger influence the discovery of DNA structure in 1953?
James D. Watson later described how this book inspired his research into genes leading to discovery of DNA structure in 1953. Francis Crick also noted influence from Schrödinger's speculations about storing genetic information in molecules.
When did Erwin Schrödinger die and what happened to his remains after death?
Schrödinger died of tuberculosis on the 4th of January 1961 in Vienna at age seventy-three though not Catholic. He was buried in Catholic cemetery Alpbach after priest relented upon learning membership in Pontifical Academy of Sciences.