Erwin Schrodinger — "The fundamental laws of physics are statistical. They do not determine precisely…"
The fundamental laws of physics are statistical. They do not determine precisely what will happen, but only the probability of what will happen.
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More from Erwin Schrodinger
"But the truth is that we are not living in a world of objects, but in a world of events."
"The world is a song, and we are the singers."
"The important thing is not to stop questioning."
"The scientific picture of the world is very successful, but it is incomplete. It leaves out something essential, something that is very close to us, namely, our own consciousness."
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About Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961)
Austrian physicist who shared the 1933 Nobel for the wave equation that bears his name and the famous cat thought-experiment. Closely associated with Werner Heisenberg (matrix-mechanics rival who reached the same physics by different math) and Albert Einstein (his pen-pal on quantum interpretation). For an intellectual contrast, see Niels Bohr, Danish physicist and architect of the Copenhagen interpretation — Schrödinger's cat thought-experiment was specifically designed to ridicule Bohr's 'observer-dependent reality' reading of quantum mechanics — Schrödinger thought the Copenhagen interpretation was absurd; the cat was meant as reductio ad absurdum.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Physical reality at its deepest level doesn't follow rigid, predetermined rules. Instead, nature operates through probabilities — we can calculate the likelihood of outcomes but never guarantee exactly what will occur. Certainty is an illusion; the universe speaks in chances. This fundamentally overturns the classical idea that knowing all conditions means knowing all future events with absolute precision.
Relevance to Erwin Schrodinger
Schrödinger developed wave mechanics in 1926, mathematically describing quantum particles as probability waves rather than definite objects. His famous cat thought experiment directly confronted this statistical indeterminacy — a cat simultaneously alive and dead until observed. He built his career wrestling with what probability-based physics means for reality, debating Einstein and Bohr about whether God truly 'plays dice' with the universe.
The era
The 1920s-30s saw quantum mechanics overturn centuries of Newtonian determinism. Einstein's relativity had already shaken physics, but quantum theory went further — suggesting nature itself is irreducibly probabilistic. This era's uncertainty principle, wave-particle duality, and Copenhagen interpretation sparked fierce philosophical debates about causality, free will, and whether objective reality exists independent of observation.
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