Erwin Schrödinger
Developed wave equation for quantum mechanics
Most quoted
"One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. Imagine an experiment that will not be carried out until the year 2000, in which a cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): at the heart of a Geiger counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. 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. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts."
— from Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik, 1935
"The scientific picture of the real world around me is very deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really close to our heart, that really matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good and bad, God and eternity. Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains, but the answers are very often so silly that we are not inclined to take them seriously."
— from Mind and Matter
"This life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of the entire existence, but is in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in a single glance. This, as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula. Tat tvam asi—this is you. Or, again, in such words as ‘I am in the east and in the west, above and below, I am this entire world.’"
— from My View of the World
All quotes by Erwin Schrödinger (550)
The understanding of the universe is a collective human effort.
If we are to be quite fair to the quantum theory, we must admit that it has been very successful in describing the behavior of atoms and molecules. But it has done so at the cost of abandoning the very idea of a 'state' of a system in the classical sense.
The number of particles in the universe is so large that it is quite impossible to count them. But it is not impossible to count the number of possible states of the universe.
The atom consists of a nucleus and electrons, and the electrons are not in definite orbits, but in a kind of 'cloud' around the nucleus. This is a very strange idea, but it works.
The physicist's greatest problem is to get rid of his own prejudices.
The world is a construct of our sensations, perceptions, memories. It is convenient to regard it as existing objectively. But it is not necessary.
The quantum theory is a wonderful theory. But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it is not the whole truth.
The scientist's aim is to understand the world, not to change it. But he often changes it in the process.
The world is not a machine. It is a living organism.
The quantum theory is a theory of probabilities. It does not tell us what will happen, but what is likely to happen.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
The world is a mystery. And the more we know, the more we realize how much we don't know.
The atom is a very small thing. But it is the most important thing in the universe.
The quantum theory is a theory of everything. But it does not explain everything.
The world is a dream. And we are the dreamers.
The scientist is a child who never grows up. He is always asking 'why?'.
The world is a symphony. And we are the musicians.
The quantum theory is a theory of paradoxes. It is full of contradictions. But it works.
The world is a book. And we are the readers.
The scientist is a detective. He is always looking for clues.
Contemporaries of Erwin Schrödinger
Other Physicss born within 50 years of Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961).