Erwin Schrodinger

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About Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was born on August 12, 1887, in Vienna, Austria, and passed away on January 4, 1961, in Vienna. He was married to Annemarie Bertel in 1920 and while they had no biological children, Schrödinger maintained a complex personal life.

Schrödinger studied at the University of Vienna and later held positions at various institutions, including the University of Zurich, the University of Berlin, and the University of Dublin. He spent the final years of his life back in his hometown of Vienna, where he passed away.

Schrödinger's interest in physics was primarily driven by his fascination with the fundamental principles of the natural world. His early exposure to physics and the then-emerging field of quantum theory stimulated his interest in furthering the understanding of atomic and subatomic phenomena.

Erwin Schrödinger's Discoveries

Schrödinger's most prominent discovery was the development of wave mechanics and the introduction of the Schrödinger equation. This played a vital role in the second wave of quantum mechanics and provided a probabilistic understanding of particle behaviors on the quantum level.

His research was met with skepticism initially, as it challenged established classical physical concepts. However, Schrödinger's groundbreaking work eventually won widespread acceptance and profoundly changed our understanding of the physical world.

Erwin Schrödinger's Key Achievements

Schrödinger's seminal achievement was the formulation of the Schrödinger equation, a cornerstone of quantum mechanics, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933. His work on wave mechanics has provided essential tools for nearly all subsequent developments in the field.

Erwin Schrödinger's Formulas

The most famous formula associated with Schrödinger is the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in one dimension. It's given by:

iħ ∂ψ / ∂t = - ħ²/2m ∂²ψ/∂x² + Vψ

Where:

i: The imaginary unit.
ħ: Reduced Planck's constant.
∂ψ / ∂t: The time derivative of the wave function ψ.
m: The mass of the particle.
∂²ψ/∂x²: The second spatial derivative of the wave function ψ.
V: The potential energy as a function of position.