21/08/2025
In 's theory of the atom, absorb and emit radiation of fixed wavelengths when between fixed orbits around a nucleus. The theory provided a good description of the spectrum created by the atom, but needed to be developed to suit more complicated atoms and molecules. Then an Austrian man came up with an equation that is a key result in quantum mechanics, and its discovery was a significant landmark in the development of the subject. That great Austrian man is our "scientist of the day" today.
It's the birthday of , the most influential figure in Quantum Mechanics - - -
(Scientist of the Day - 12 August)
Schrรถdinger was a highly gifted man with a broad education. Today, world remember him for his famous , Schrรถdinger's (1935) but the Schrรถdinger , which he formulated in 1926 to describe the quantum state of a system, is his most enduring achievement at a more technical level. It is celebrated as one of the most important achievements in 20th Century physics, and it revolutionized quantum mechanics and earned Schrรถdinger a share in the 1933 in physics.
Assuming that matter (for example, electrons) could be regarded as both and , in 1926 Erwin Schrรถdinger formulated a wave equation that accurately calculated the of electrons in . This famous were a significant milestone in the development of quantum mechanics. Based on the of energy, the equations (time-dependent and time-independent) predict that the result of measuring a system may be discrete - that is, . And even if the wavefunction that describes the system is known exactly, the result of a specific measurement on the system is uncertain.
When Schrรถdinger lived in in the 1930s, he had a pet cat named - which might explain why his famous thought experiment of 1935 involved a cat and not some other animal. He became significantly more well known by continued mention of Schrรถdinger's cat in The Big Bang Theory.
In 2013, Schrรถdinger's 126th birthday anniversary was celebrated with a Google Doodle.
10/08/2025