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Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa

ERWIN SCHRÖDINGER (1887–1961)

J D Hey

Published Jan 1, 1989• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

SUMMARY In this article, written to commemorate the centenary of Schrödinger's birth, the life and major areas of intellectual activity of one of the giants of twentieth-century physics are reviewed under the following headings: early years, Louis de Broglie, wave mechanics, quantum mechanics, the Nobel Prize, paradoxes, relativity and field theory, contributions to biology, science in relation to ancient thought and philosophy, and the final years.

DOI
10.1080/00359198909520151

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This book describes the many aspects of the life and scientific work of Erwin Schrödinger, who, perhaps more than anyone else, serves to represent the whole of modern physics. The contributions to the book are from many hands, and so it seemed useful to me to precede them with a short note giving an uncontroversial account of his life which will serve as a framework into which they can be fitted. Such a collection as this still leaves out many aspects of Schrödinger's thought, for it considers his philosophy only in passing, his poetry not at all and ignores his wide and deep interest in sculpture and painting and in the classics. Schrödinger was born in Vienna on August 12, 1887, and entered the University there to read physics in 1906. He worked there as an assistant from 1910 till his war service, and again after the war. Some short term appointments at Jena, Stuttgart and Breslau led up to his appointment to the chair of theoretical physics in Zürich in 1921. He was already treating a wide range of topics, but concentrating on atomic theory, for the old quantum theory had now entered on its heroic phase of final collapse. His six papers founding wave mechanics came at the end of his Zürich years, and in 1927 he went to the chair in Berlin, to remain there till the advent of Hitler in 1933.

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1. Introduction C. W. Kilmister 2. Boltzmann's influence on Schrodinger Dieter Flamm 3. Schrodinger's original interpretation of the Schrodinger equation: a rescue attempt Jon Dorling 4. Are there quantum jumps? J. S. Bell 5. Square root of minus one, complex phases and Erwin Schrodinger Chen Ning Yung 6. Consequences of the Schrodinger equation for atomic and molecular physics W. E. Thirring 7. Molecular dynamics: from H + H, to biomolecules Martin Karplus 8. Orbital presentation of chemical reactions Kenichi Fukui 9. Quantum chemistry A. D. Buckingham 10. Eamon de Valera, Erwin Schrodinger and the Dublin Institute Sir William McCrea 11. Do bosons condense? J. T. Lewis 12. Schrodinger's nonlinear optics James McConnell 13. Schrodinger's unified field theory seen 40 years later O. Hittmair 14. The Schrodinger equation of the Universe S. W. Hawking 15. Overview of particle physics A. Salam 16. Gauge fields, topological defects and cosmology T. W. B. Kibble 17. Quantum theory and astronomy M. J. Seaton 18. Schrodinger's contributions to chemistry and biology Linus Pawling 19. Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life? and molecular biology M. F. Perutz.

•Mar 31, 1989•49 citations
SUMMARY In this article, written to commemorate the centenary of Schrödinger's birth, the life and major areas of intellectual activity of one of the giants of twentieth-century physics are reviewed under the following headings: early years, Louis de Broglie, wave mechanics, quantum mechanics, the Nobel Prize, paradoxes, relativity and field theory, contributions to biology, science in relation to ancient thought and philosophy, and the final years.
Schrödinger's influence in almost every field of science is still felt. He was a man who single-handedly reshaped thinking in cosmology, wave mechanics, statistical mechanics, unified field theories, theoretical chemistry and molecular biology. In this volume, which was prepared in 1987 to celebrate the centenary of Schrödinger's birth, leading figures in all these fields have collaborated to produce this carefully integrated and edited survey of the man and his science. Some of the contributions are biographical in nature, revealing much about the character of the man. Others deal with modern-day theories in different fields of science in which Schrödinger worked and his influence in those areas.
A review of The Historical Development of Quantum Theory, Volume 5; Erwin Schrödinger and the Rise of Wave Mechanics. Part 1 Schrödinger in Vienna and Zurich 1887–1925, and Part 2 The Creation of Wave Mechanics; Early Response and Applications. By Jagdish Mehra and Helmut Rechenberg. (Springer, 1987.) Part 1 [Pp. xviii+336.] £32·40 ISBN 3540 96284 0. Part 2 [Pp. 367–980]. £48·50. ISBN 3540 96377 4. This volume is dedicated to the memory of Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961) on the centenary of his birth.
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide In July 1925, Werner Heisenberg submitted a paper to Zeitschrift für Physik entitled ‘On quantum-theoretical reinterpretation of kinematic and mechanical relationships’, thus giving birth to quantum mechanics. In the following year, building on de Broglie’s wave-particle duality, Erwin Schrödinger developed wave mechanics, and soon, Max Born provided a probabilistic interpretation of the wave function. The theory was further enriched by the exclusion principle of Wolfgang Pauli and the uncertainty principle of Heisenberg, which ultimately led to the development of relativistic quantum mechanics by Dirac. The Copenhagen Interpretation created a probabilistic framework for understanding the theory. Over the past century, quantum mechanics has paved the way for advances in quantum field theory, computing, and modern technologies. This historical narrative provides insights into the complex discovery process that led to the development of quantum mechanics, which can potentially guide novel breakthroughs amid challenging conceptual struggles, as seen in the field of artificial intelligence today.
This book describes the many aspects of the life and scientific work of Erwin Schrödinger, who, perhaps more than anyone else, serves to represent the whole of modern physics. The contributions to the book are from many hands, and so it seemed useful to me to precede them with a short note giving an uncontroversial account of his life which will serve as a framework into which they can be fitted. Such a collection as this still leaves out many aspects of Schrödinger's thought, for it considers his philosophy only in passing, his poetry not at all and ignores his wide and deep interest in sculpture and painting and in the classics. Schrödinger was born in Vienna on August 12, 1887, and entered the University there to read physics in 1906. He worked there as an assistant from 1910 till his war service, and again after the war. Some short term appointments at Jena, Stuttgart and Breslau led up to his appointment to the chair of theoretical physics in Zürich in 1921. He was already treating a wide range of topics, but concentrating on atomic theory, for the old quantum theory had now entered on its heroic phase of final collapse. His six papers founding wave mechanics came at the end of his Zürich years, and in 1927 he went to the chair in Berlin, to remain there till the advent of Hitler in 1933.
1. Introduction C. W. Kilmister 2. Boltzmann's influence on Schrodinger Dieter Flamm 3. Schrodinger's original interpretation of the Schrodinger equation: a rescue attempt Jon Dorling 4. Are there quantum jumps? J. S. Bell 5. Square root of minus one, complex phases and Erwin Schrodinger Chen Ning Yung 6. Consequences of the Schrodinger equation for atomic and molecular physics W. E. Thirring 7. Molecular dynamics: from H + H, to biomolecules Martin Karplus 8. Orbital presentation of chemical reactions Kenichi Fukui 9. Quantum chemistry A. D. Buckingham 10. Eamon de Valera, Erwin Schrodinger and the Dublin Institute Sir William McCrea 11. Do bosons condense? J. T. Lewis 12. Schrodinger's nonlinear optics James McConnell 13. Schrodinger's unified field theory seen 40 years later O. Hittmair 14. The Schrodinger equation of the Universe S. W. Hawking 15. Overview of particle physics A. Salam 16. Gauge fields, topological defects and cosmology T. W. B. Kibble 17. Quantum theory and astronomy M. J. Seaton 18. Schrodinger's contributions to chemistry and biology Linus Pawling 19. Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life? and molecular biology M. F. Perutz.