Erwin Schrödinger and the Schrödingers Cat Experiment

Erwin Schrà ¶dinger and the Schrà ¶dinger's Cat Experiment Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrà ¶dinger (born on August 12, 1887 in Vienna, Austria) was a physicist who conducted groundbreaking work in quantum mechanics, a field which studies how energy and matter behave at very small length scales. In 1926, Schrà ¶dinger developed an equation that predicted where an electron would be located in an atom. In 1933, he received a Nobel Prize for this work, along with physicist Paul Dirac. Fast Facts: Erwin Schrà ¶dinger Full Name: Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrà ¶dingerKnown For: Physicist who developed the Schrà ¶dinger equation, which signified a great stride for quantum mechanics. Also developed the thought experiment known as â€Å"Schrà ¶dinger’s Cat.†Born: August 12, 1887 in Vienna, AustriaDied: January 4, 1961 in Vienna, AustriaParents: Rudolf and Georgine Schrà ¶dingerSpouse: Annemarie BertelChild: Ruth Georgie Erica (b. 1934)Education: University of ViennaAwards: with quantum theorist, Paul A.M. Dirac awarded 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics.Publications: What Is Life? (1944), Nature and the Greeks  (1954), and My View of the World  (1961). Schrà ¶dinger may be more popularly known for â€Å"Schrà ¶dinger’s Cat,† a thought experiment he devised in 1935 to illustrate problems with a common interpretation of quantum mechanics. Early Years and Education Schrà ¶dinger was the only child of Rudolf Schrà ¶dinger – a linoleum and oilcloth factory worker who had inherited the business from his father – and Georgine, the daughter of a chemistry professor of Rudolf’s. Schrà ¶dinger’s upbringing emphasized cultural appreciation and advancement in both science and art. Schrà ¶dinger was educated by a tutor and by his father at home. At the age of 11, he entered the Akademische Gymnasium in Vienna, a school focused on classical education and training in physics and mathematics. There, he enjoyed learning classical languages, foreign poetry, physics, and mathematics, but hated memorizing what he termed â€Å"incidental† dates and facts. Schrà ¶dinger continued his studies at the University of Vienna, which he entered in 1906. He earned his PhD in physics in 1910 under the guidance of Friedrich Hasenà ¶hrl, whom Schrà ¶dinger considered to be one of his greatest intellectual influences. Hasenà ¶hrl was a student of physicist Ludwig Boltzmann, a renowned scientist known for his work in statistical mechanics. After Schrà ¶dinger received his PhD, he worked as an assistant to Franz Exner, another student of Boltzmann’s, until being drafted at the beginning of World War I. Career Beginnings In 1920, Schrà ¶dinger married Annemarie Bertel and moved with her to Jena, Germany to work as the assistant of physicist Max Wien. From there, he became faculty at a number of universities over a short period of time, first becoming a junior professor in Stuttgart, then a full professor at Breslau, before joining the University of Zurich as a professor in 1921. Schrà ¶dinger’s subsequent six years at Zurich were some of the most important in his professional career. At the University of Zurich, Schrà ¶dinger developed a theory that significantly advanced the understanding of quantum physics. He published a series of papers – about one per month – on wave mechanics. In particular, the first paper, â€Å"Quantization as an Eigenvalue Problem, introduced what would become known as the Schrà ¶dinger equation, now a central part of quantum mechanics. Schrà ¶dinger was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1933. Schrà ¶dinger’s Equation Schrà ¶dingers equation mathematically described the wavelike nature of systems governed by quantum mechanics. With this equation, Schrà ¶dinger provided a way to not only study the behaviors of these systems, but also to predict how they behave. Though there was much initial debate about what Schrà ¶dinger’s equation meant, scientists eventually interpreted it as the probability of finding an electron somewhere in space. Schrà ¶dinger’s Cat Schrà ¶dinger formulated this thought experiment in response to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, which states that a particle described by quantum mechanics exists in all possible states at the same time, until it is observed and is forced to choose one state. Heres an example: consider a light that can light up either red or green. When we are not looking at the light, we assume that it is both red and green. However, when we look at it, the light must force itself to be either red or green, and that is the color we see. Schrà ¶dinger did not agree with this interpretation. He created a different thought experiment, called Schrà ¶dingers Cat, to illustrate his concerns. In the Schrà ¶dingers Cat experiment, a cat is placed inside a sealed box with a radioactive substance and a poisonous gas. If the radioactive substance decayed, it would release the gas and kill the cat. If not, the cat would be alive. Because we do not know whether the cat is alive or dead, it is considered both alive and dead until someone opens the box and sees for themselves what the state of the cat is. Thus, simply by looking into the box, someone has magically made the cat alive or dead even though that is impossible. Influences on Schrà ¶dinger’s Work Schrà ¶dinger did not leave much information about the scientists and theories that influenced his own work. However, historians have pieced together some of those influences, which include: Louis de Broglie, a physicist, introduced the concept of â€Å"matter waves. Schrà ¶dinger had read de Broglie’s thesis as well as a footnote written by Albert Einstein, which spoke positively about de Broglie’s work. Schrà ¶dinger was also asked to discuss de Broglie’s work at a seminar hosted by both the University of Zurich and another university, ETH Zurich.Boltzmann. Schrà ¶dinger considered Boltzmann’s statistical approach to physics his â€Å"first love in science,† and much of his scientific education followed in the tradition of Boltzmann.Schrà ¶dinger’s previous work on the quantum theory of gases, which studied gases from the perspective of quantum mechanics. In one of his papers on the quantum theory of gases, â€Å"On Einstein’s Gas Theory,† Schrà ¶dinger applied de Broglie’s theory on matter waves to help explain the behavior of gases. Later Career and Death In 1933, the same year he won the Nobel Prize, Schrà ¶dinger resigned his professorship at the University of Berlin, which he had joined in 1927, in response to the Nazi takeover of Germany and the dismissal of Jewish scientists. He subsequently moved to England, and later to Austria. However, in 1938, Hitler invaded Austria, forcing Schrà ¶dinger, now an established anti-Nazi, to flee to Rome. In 1939, Schrà ¶dinger moved to Dublin, Ireland, where he remained until his return to Vienna in 1956. Schrà ¶dinger died of tuberculosis on January 4, 1961 in Vienna, the city where he was born. He was 73 years old. Sources Fischer E. We are all aspects of one single being: An introduction to Erwin Schrà ¶dinger. Soc Res, 1984; 51(3): 809-835.Heitler W. â€Å"Erwin Schrà ¶dinger, 1887-1961.† Biogr Mem Fellows Royal Soc, 1961; 7: 221-228.Masters B. â€Å"Erwin Schrà ¶dinger’s path to wave mechanics.† Opt Photonics News, 2014; 25(2): 32-39.Moore W. Schrà ¶dinger: Life and thought. Cambridge University Press; 1989.Schrà ¶dinger: Centenary celebration of a polymath. Ed. Clive Kilmister, Cambridge University Press; 1987.Schrà ¶dinger E. â€Å"Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem, erste Mitteilung.†Ann. Phys., 1926; 79: 361-376.Teresi D. The lone ranger of quantum mechanics. The New York Times website. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/07/books/the-lone-ranger-of-quantum-mechanics.html. 1990.