Schrodinger’s biography shows that even with severe illness and family financial disaster, great accomplishment is possible.
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Erwin Schrödinger
Religion: Roman Catholic
Occupation: Physicist
Nationality: Austria
Executive summary: Schrِdinger's wave equation

Military service: German Army (WWI, Italian Front)
Austrian physicist Erwin Schrِdinger won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933, for his 1926 introduction of Schrِdinger's wave, the mathematical equation of wave mechanics that is still the most widely used piece of mathematics in modern quantum theory. It posits a non-relativistic wave equation that governs how electrons behave within the hydrogen atom. He worked on analytical mechanics, applications of partial differential equations to dynamics, atomic spectroscopy, color theory, cosmology, counter (or detector) statistics, eigenvalue problems, electromagnetic theory, general relativity, James Clerk Maxwell's equations, meson physics, optics, radiation theory, solid-state physics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, and the unified field theory. He also wrote extensively on the history of science, and existential questions of life.
He introduced his famous "Schrِdinger's cat" paradox in a 1935 paper, "The present situation in quantum mechanics". The cat quandary was intended to illustrate the absurdity of quantum physics, which must deal in probabilities rather than observable certainties. The scenario varies, but generally "Schrِdinger's cat" tells the story of a cat sharing a closed box with an elaborate booby trap consisting of a vial of cyanide gas, a small but deadly quantity of radioactive material, and a radiation detector. If the radiation detector senses decay in the radioactive material at the atomic level it triggers the release of the poison gas and the cat is killed; but if radioactive decay is not detected then the cat enjoys a quiet nap and no harm is done. So long as the box remains closed scientists cannot observe whether the cat is dead, but until the box is opened and the cat is observed, the cat exists in an indeterminate state and must be assumed to be both dead and alive. Beyond this odd conundrum lies an odder paradox of quantum physics, that quantum level observations of position with regard to momentum are indeed as indeterminate as the cat's state of life or death.
Though Catholic by faith Schrِdinger was infuriated by Germany's anti-Jewish laws. In 1933, when an English scientist visited the University of Berlin to try to arrange safe exit from Germany for several of the school's Jewish scientists, Schrِdinger — one of the world's most famous scientists — startled the visitor by asking if he could arrange passage for himself and his family. After leaving Germany he spent a few years at Cambridge, then relocated to Austria's University of Graz — which became Adolf Hitler University after the Nazis invaded Austria, leading Schrِdinger to flee another nation. He eventually took residence at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, where he worked for seventeen years, by far his longest stint at any one institution.

Father: Rudolf Schrödinger (linoleum factory manager)




Mother: Georgine Emilia Brenda Bauer ("Emily")


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Erwin Schrödinger's father, Rudolf Schrödinger, ran a small linoleum factory which he had inherited from his own father. Erwin's mother, Emily Bauer, was half English, this side of the family coming from Leamington Spa, and half Austrian with her father coming from Vienna.

Schrödinger learnt English and German almost at the same time due to the fact that both were spoken in the household. He was not sent to elementary school, but received lessons at home from a private tutor up to the age of ten. He then entered the Akademisches Gymnasium in the autumn of 1898, rather later than was usual since he spent a long holiday in England around the time he might have entered the school. He wrote later about his time at the Gymnasium:-

In [16] there is the following quotation from a student in Schrödinger's class at school:-

Schrödinger graduated from the Akademisches Gymnasium in 1906 and, in that year, entered the University of Vienna. In theoretical physics he studied analytical mechanics, applications of partial differential equations to dynamics, eigenvalue problems, Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic theory, optics, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. It was Fritz Hasenöhrl's lectures on theoretical physics which had the greatest influence on Schrödinger. In mathematics he was taught calculus and algebra by Franz Mertens, function theory, differential equations and mathematical statistics by Wilhelm Wirtinger (whom he found uninspiring as a lecturer). He also studied projective geometry, algebraic curves and continuous groups in lectures given by Gustav Kohn.
On 20 May 1910, Schrödinger was awarded his doctorate for the dissertation On the conduction of electricity on the surface of insulators in moist air. After this he undertook voluntary military service in the fortress artillery. Then he was appointed to an assistantship at Vienna but, rather surprisingly, in experimental physics rather than theoretical physics. He later said that his experiences conducting experiments proved an invaluable asset to his theoretical work since it gave him a practical philosophical framework in which to set his theoretical ideas.

Having completed the work for his habilitation, he was awarded the degree on 1 September 1914. That it was not an outstanding piece of work is shown by the fact that the committee was not unanimous in recommending him for the degree. As Moore writes in [8]:-

In 1914 Schrödinger's first important paper was published developing ideas of Boltzmann. However, with the outbreak of World War I, Schrödinger received orders to take up duty on the Italian border. His time of active service was not wasted as far as research was concerned, however, for he continued his theoretical work, submitting another paper from his position on the Italian front. In 1915 he was transferred to duty in Hungary and from there he submitted further papers for publication. After being sent back to the Italian front, Schrödinger received a citation for outstanding service commanding a battery during a battle.
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=In science, Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) (IQ=190|#32) (CR=144|#23) was an Austrian physicist—a top ranked greatest physicist ever—noted for his 1925 Schrodinger equation, a Lagrangian-based state equation for the wave movement of an electron about an atom, for his 1935 book Science and the Human Temperament, wherein he stated his opinion that the rise of cultures is governed by the second law of thermodynamics, for his ultra-famous 1943 "What is Life? (in terms of Physics and Chemistry) lecture-turned-book, wherein he postulated that “life feeds on negative entropy” and followup retraction "Note to Chapter 6", wherein he had to admit to error, commenting that he he should have discussed life in terms of "free energy" in stead of entropy, in regards to the theory of life question, and for his 1946 Statistical Mechanics book. [1] Schrodinger won the 1933 Nobel Prize for his development of the Schrodinger equation.

Human thermodynamics
In 1935, in the context of human thermodynamics, Schrodinger, in his Science and the Human Temperament, stated the following in regards to the second law and rise of human cultures, as re-quoted by American anthropologist Leslie White (1959): [3]

Life feeds on negative entropy
In popular or colloquial use, Schrodinger's cryptic "life feeds on negative entropy" postulate, might be considered as one of the most oft-quoted passages culled from the publications of thermodynamics. In extrapolation to human life, this would imply that people, in some way, feed on negative entropy (or a negative value of entropy S). In linguistic form, Schrödinger’s postulate is similar to Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann’s 1886 postulate that “the general struggle for existence of animate beings is … a struggle for entropy”. [2]

Negative entropy and order

In terms of entropy and order, in somewhat riddled form, Schrödinger reasoned that living organisms feed on negative entropy. To begin, he states that he will “try to sketch the bearing of the entropy principle (the second law of thermodynamics) on the large-scale behavior of a living organism”. Second, he equates thermodynamic equilibrium, or what he calls “maximum entropy”, as a state in which chemical potentials are equalized, wherein systems become dead, in which no observable changes occur. To avoid decay to this hypothetical death state, Schrödinger reasons that it is not energy that living beings feed on that keeps them at bay from decay but “negative entropy”. In rephrasing this statement, he says “the essential thing in metabolism is that the organism succeeds in freeing itself from all the entropy it cannot help producing while alive.” In making these ball-park statements, Schrödinger calls on the statistical concept of order and disorder, connections that were revealed, as he says, by the investigations of Boltzmann and Gibbs in statistical physics. On this basis, he situates the following definition: