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Name:
Erwin Schrödinger
Erwin Schrodinger
Dates:
Born: August 12, 1887, in Vienna, Austria
Died: January 4, 1961
Nobel Prize in Physics: 1933
Biography:
Erwin Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist and Nobel laureate who
played an important role in the development of quantum physics. He is perhaps best known
for the thought experiment known as "Schrödinger's Cat." He argued that in a quantum
system, particles are in an indeterminate state until they are actually observed.
To illustrate this principle, he described a situation whereby a cat is locked in a box with a canister of poison gas. The release of this gas is controlled by the decay of a radioactive atom - but it is but it is impossible to predict whether this atom will actually decay or not within a specified time. The cat remains in an indeterminate state, both alive and dead, until someone actually opens the box and looks inside.
Although a physicist, Schrödinger also wrote a book relating to biology entitled What is Life? which was very influential at the time of its publication in 1944. In it he described two essential properties shared by all living things and which are commonly cited even today. First, living things are characterized by the ability to create order out of disorder through the use of energy sources from which they feed. Second, living things have the ability to transmit a blueprint of how they are formed from one generation to the next. At the time Schrödinger knew nothing about DNA, but today we understand that to be the blueprint which living things replicate over the course of time.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
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