Erwin Schrodinger — "If we were to take the wave function to be a complete description of reality, th…"
If we were to take the wave function to be a complete description of reality, then the living and dead cat would indeed be equally real.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Erwin Schrodinger
"In fact, I should say that the world is a picture drawn by ourselves, and that we are ourselves part of the picture."
"It is not possible that this unity of knowledge, feeling and choice which you call your own should have sprung into being from nothingness at a given moment not so long ago; rather this knowledge, fee…"
"I consider the idea of a personal God as being very childish. We must give up this idea."
"The true path to knowledge is to question everything."
"The world is not something that exists independently of us. It is something that we create."
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.
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
If quantum mechanics' wave function perfectly describes reality, then a cat sealed in a box with a poison trigger can genuinely exist as both alive and dead at the same time — not metaphorically, but literally. Schrödinger uses this to highlight what he saw as an absurdity: the rules governing tiny particles, if applied without limit, produce impossible scenarios at human-visible scales.
Relevance to Erwin Schrodinger
Schrödinger invented wave mechanics in 1926, giving quantum physics its foundational equation. Ironically, he despised the interpretation that grew from it. His cat paradox, published in 1935, was a deliberate attack on the Copenhagen interpretation championed by Bohr and Heisenberg, arguing their reading of the wave function led to ridiculous physical conclusions. He remained a philosophical dissenter within the field he helped create.
The era
Quantum mechanics had just been formalized in the late 1920s, sparking fierce debates about its meaning. In 1935, Einstein published the EPR paradox questioning whether the theory was complete. Schrödinger's cat thought experiment appeared that same year, joining Einstein's challenge against the Copenhagen interpretation. Physicists were split: was quantum mechanics a final description of nature, or merely a useful but incomplete tool? This foundational crisis defined the era.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].