PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Schrödinger

Early Life

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Born August 12, 1887 in Vienna to Rudolf and Georgine Schrödinger• Rudolf was a trade chemist (cloth and linoleum industry) and passionate

botanist• Grandfather, Alexander Bauer, was a professor of Chemistry• Raised in a comfortable lower aristocratic household

• Schrödinger was homeschooled until the age of 11 when he entered Akademisches Gymnasium• Schrödinger was innately logical and curious as a child• Excelling in his studies, Schrödinger loved mathematics, sciences and

classical language and literature above all else.• Generally abhorred learning from books and wrote memorization.

• Tonio Rella, childhood friend; Lotte Rella, his first love

Early Life

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

University of Vienna

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Was to study under Boltzman; however, Boltzman committed suicide only a few months prior to his enrollment

• Studied primarily under Fritz Hasenöhrl• Hasenöhrl was a brilliant and engaging lecturer• Solidified Schrödinger’s commitment to mathematical physics

• Schrödinger’s closed friend through University was a botanist, Franz Frimmel. • The two enjoyed philosophic and scientific discussion at length• Continued Schrödinger’s interest in Darwinism and theories on the

structure of life and genetics.

First World War

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Schrödinger’s first papers made mostly small contributions to the field of Physics

• The outbreak of the First World War inturrupted his Professor Assistantship at the University of Vienna• Served as an artillery officer on the Italian-Austrian front• Received a commendation for services rendered• Eventually moved back to Vienna to instruct Meteorology

• The post war period left Schrödinger and his family in great financial distress• Schrödinger suffered the death of his father, mother and grandfather along

with financial ruin within the span of two years.• Wed Annamarie Bertel in 1920

University of Zürich

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Schrödinger moved from junior professor positions at Jena (under Max Wein), Stuttgart, and Breslau.• During this time he published his three papers on color theory

• Moved to Zürich in 1921, offered a Full Professor position• Probably the most productive period in Schrödinger’s life.• When he arrived his health was in decline

• During a respite at Arosa he wrote two papers, the second notes the suggestion of a relationship between orbital period and quantized energy

The Wave Equation

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Schrödinger investigated deBrolgie’s radical paper at the suggestion of Einstein• Likely, along with Einstein, was one of the few physicists to initially take the

suggestion seriously• Was not so much derived as ‘discovered’ through mathematical

exploration• Started with a non-relativistic differential equation of a wave distribution• Eventually worked in deBroligie’s hypothesis and relativistic energies

• Eventually published four papers on the ‘Quantization of the Eigenvalue problem’• Received great praise from Einstein and Plank

The Wave Equation

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

The first iteration of the wave equation from Schrödinger’s notebook

Berlin, Oxford & Dublin

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Upon the completion of greatest work, Schrödinger moved to Berlin• With his rise to prominance through his four papers, he was offered to

suceed Max Plank as Department Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Berlin in 1927.

• Continued work on perfecting the theory behind the wave equation• Fled to Oxford in 1933

• Held increasing disapproval of the Nazi regime.• Was offered a professor position by Frederick Lindemann• Later that year, Schrödinger traveled to Stockholm to receive the Nobel

Prize along with Dirac.• Moved to Graz, Austria, to Dublin and finally back to Vienna

Other Notable Contributions

PHY 240: Modern Physics – Erwin Schrödinger

• Color Theory• Before developing the Wave Equation• Became known as an expert in pigment and color theory

• Biology and Genetics• While in Dublin he published What is Life?, a dialogue on the relationship

between living matter and physics• In this work he suggests the existence of a complex molecule containing

inherited information of biological structure• James Watson notes this as one of his primary influences in the discovery

of DNA• Philosophy

• Wrote a significant volume of work on his personal philosophies and Hinduism

• Schrödinger’s Cat