Profile
Erwin Schrödinger: The Physicist Behind the Wave Equation
Austrian Nobel Prize-winning physicist, born in Vienna on 12 August 1887
Erwin Schrödinger was born in Vienna on 12 August 1887 and studied physics at the city's university. He served as an artillery officer in the First World War.
In 1926, while working in Zurich, he published the Schrödinger equation, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933 with Paul Dirac.
Opposed to the Nazis, he left Germany in 1933 and spent many years in Dublin at the Institute for Advanced Studies. His lecture series there became the book What Is Life?, and in 1935 he described the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.
Career highlights
- 1887Born in Vienna
- 1914Army service: as an artillery officer
- 1926The Schrödinger equation: published in Zurich
- 1927Succeeds Max Planck: at the University of Berlin
- 1933Nobel Prize in Physics: shared with Paul Dirac
- 1935Schrödinger's cat: his famous thought experiment
- 1939Moves to Dublin: joining the new Institute for Advanced Studies
- 1944What Is Life?: influential book on biology and physics
- 1961Dies in Vienna: aged 73
Did you know?His wave equation is engraved on a memorial at the University of Vienna, and his image appeared on Austria's 1,000 schilling banknote.
