Erwin Schrödinger (August 12, 1887 - January 4, 1961) was an Austrian physicist famous for his contributions to quantum mechanics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1933. He proposed the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, and he had a life-long interest in Vedanta.
- 1887 Born in Vienna (Erdberg),to Rudolf Schrödinger, cerecloth producer, botanist and Georgine Emilia Brenda, d. o Alexander Bauer, Professor of Chemistry,k.u.k. Technische Hochschule Vienna
- 1898 Akademisches Gymnasium
- 1906-10 Studied in Vienna with (Franz Serafin Exner (1849 - 1926), Fritz Hasenöhrl (1874 - 1915), experimental work with Kohlrausch)
- 1911 Assistant to Exner
- 1914 Habilitation (venia legendi)
- 1914-18 war participation (Görz, Duino, Sistiana, Prosecco, Vienna)
- 1920, April 6, marries Annemarie Bertel
- 1920 Assistant to Max Wien, Jena
- 1920 Sept. a.o.Prof. ("Ausserordentlicher Professor", roughly equivalent to Reader (UK) or associate professor (US)), Stuttgart
- 1921 o.Prof. ("Ordentlicher Professor", i.e. full professor), Breslau (presently Wroclaw, Poland)
- 1922 Zürich University
- 1926 Annalen der Physik : "Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem".(Quantisation as an Eigenvalue Problem). Schrödingers wave-mechanics/-equation
- 1927 Follows Max Planck in Berlin Humboldt-University
- 1933 term limited Fellow of Magdalen College, University of Oxford
- 1933 Nobel Prize together with Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
- 1934 Lectures at Princeton University (permanent position not accepted)
- 1936 University Graz,Austria
- 1938 After Hitler occupied Austria: problems due to leaving Germany in 1933 and his known preferences; search warrants, investigations;
Via Italy/Switzerland to Oxford - University of Ghent.
At Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin, Director of the School for Theoretical Physics.
About 50 further publications on various topics. Attempts towards a unified field theory.
- 1944 What is Life? (Negentropy, concepts for genetic code);
In Dublin until retirement
- 1955.Returns to Vienna (chair ad personam).
At an important lecture during the World Power Conference he refuses to speak on nuclear energy because of his scepticism about it (he gave a philosophical lecture instead).
- 1961 Died in Vienna, aged 73 (tuberculosis). Left widow Anny. Buried in Alpbach (Austria).
According to James Watson's memoir DNA, The Secret of Life, Schrödinger's 1944 book What is Life? gave Watson the inspiration to research the gene, which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix structure.
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