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Erwin Schrödinger Erwin Rud Rudolf olf Josef Alexander Schrö Schrödin dinger ger (12 August 1887 – 4
J an anu uar ary y 1961 1961)) Austrian-Irish physicist, a pioneer of quantum of quantum mechanics and winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics; famous for his proposal of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment.
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1 Sourced 1.1 What Is Life? (19 (1944 44)) 1.2 Science S cience and Human Humanism ism (1951) (1951) 1.3 Nature and the Greeks (1954)
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1.4 Mind and Matt M atter er (195 (1958) 8) Nirvana is a state of pure blissful knowledge knowledge... ... It has nothing to do with the individual.
1.5 My View of the World (1961) 2 Quotes about Schrödin S chrödinger ger 3 Ext E xternal ernal links
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Nirvana is a sta te of pure blissf blissful ul knowledge... It has nothing nothing to do w ith the
Them The mes
individual. individual. The ego or its sepa ration is an illusion. Indeed in a certain sense two "I"'s are
identical namely when one disregards all special contents — their Karma Karma.. The goal of man is to preserve his Karma and to develop it further... when man dies his Karma lives and creates for itself another carrier.
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Writings Writings of J uly 1918, 1918, quoted in A Life Life of of Erwin Erwin Schr Schröd ödin inger ger (1994) by Walter Moore ISBN Go
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No self is of itself alone. It has a long chain of intellectual
ancestors. The "I" is chained to ancestry by many factors ... This is not mere allegory, but an eternal memory. Life of of Erwin Erwin Schr Schröd ödin inger ger (1994) Writings Writings of J uly 1918, 1918, quoted in A Life by Walter Moore
The The stag stages es of of hu human devel evelop opm ment ent are are to to str strive ive for for: (1) (1) Besitz [Possession] (2) (2) Wissen [Knowledge] (3) (3) Können [Ability] (4) (4) Sein [Being]
No self is of itself alone.
Writings of August 1918, quoted in A Life Life of of Erwin Erwin Schr Schröd ödin inger ger (1994) by Walter Moore For thousands of years men have striven and suffered and begotten and woman have brought forth in pain. A hundred years ago, perhaps, another man sat on this spot; like you he gazed with awe and yearning in his heart at the dying light on the glaciers. Like you he was begotten of man and born of woman. He felt pain and brief joy as you do. Was he someone else? Was it not you yourself? yourself? What is this Self Self of of yours? What was the necessary condition for making the thing conceived this time into you, just you and not someone else?
This This is is not not mere ere alle alleg gory, ory, but an eternal eternal memory.
Erwin Schrödinger - Wikiquote
"Seek for the Road" (1925)
The "Schrödinger equation", equation (3') in "Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem, Vierte Mitteilung", Annalen der Physik (1926) Conditions are admittedly such that we can always manage to make do in each concrete individual case without the two different aspects leading to different expectations as to the result of certain experiments. W e c a n n o t , ho w e v e r , m a n a ge t o m a k e d o w i t h s uc h o ld , familiar, and see mingly indispensable terms as "real" or "only possible"; we are never in a position to say w hat really is or what really happens, but w e can only say what w ill be observed in any concrete individual case. Will we
have to be permanently satisfied with this...? On principle, yes. On pr in c ip le , t he re is no t hi ng ne w in t he po st ul a t e t ha t in t he end ex act science should aim at nothing more than the
We are never in a position to say what really is or what really happens, but we can only say what will be observed in any concrete individual case.
description of what can really be observed. The question is only whether from now on w e shall have to refrain from t ying description t o a c l e a r h y p ot h e s is a b o u t t h e r e a l n a t u re o f t h e w o rl d. T h e r e a r e m a n y w h o w i s h t o pr on ou nc e su c h a bd ic a t io n e ve n t od a y. Bu t I be li e ve t ha t t hi s m e a ns m a k in g things a little t oo easy for oneself.
"The Fundamental Idea of Wave Mechanics", Nobel lecture, (12 December 1933) If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. On the conditions of the "Schrödinger's cat" thought-experiment, as presented in The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics (1935), translated by J ohn D. Trimmer God knows I am no friend of probability theory, I have hated it from the first moment w hen our dear friend Max Born gave it birth. For it could be seen how ea sy and simple it made everything, in principle, everything ironed a nd t he true problems concealed. Everybody must jump on t he bandwagon [Auswe g]. And act ually not a year passed before it becam e a n official credo, and it still is.
13th of J une, 1946, in a letter to Albert Einstein, as quoted by Walter Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989) ISBN 0521437679 I insist upon the view that 'all is waves'.
9th of November, 1959, in a letter to J ohn Lighton Synge, as quoted by Walter Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989) ISBN 0521437679 The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the
Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view, unless strong prejudices stand in the way. As quoted in The Eye of Shiva: Eastern Mysticism and Science (1981) by Amaury de Riencourt Multiplicity is only appare nt, in truth, there is only one mind...
"The Oneness of Mind", as translated in Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (1984) edited by
Erwin Schrödinger - Wikiquote
Ken Wilber Consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular. Not only has none of us ever experienced more than one consciousness, but there is also no trace of circumstantial evidence of this ever happening anywhere in the world. If I say that there cannot be more than one consciousness in the same mind, this seems a blunt tautology — we are quite unable to imagine the contrary...
Multiplicity is only apparent, in truth, there is only one mind...
"The Oneness of Mind", as translated in Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (1984) edited by Ken Wilber In itself, the insight is not new . The earliest records, to my knowledge, date back some 2 500 years or more... the recognition ATMAN = BRAHMAN (the personal self equals the omnipresent, a ll-comprehending eternal self) w as in Indian thought considered, far from being blasphemous, to represent the quintessence of deepest insight into the happenings of the w orld. The striving of all the scholars of
Vedanta was after having learnt to pronounce with their lips, really assimilate in their minds this grandest of all thoughts. Again, the mystics of many centuries, independently, yet in perfect harmony with each other (somewhat like the particles in an ideal gas) have described, each of them, the unique experience of his or her life in terms that can be condensed in the phrase: DEUS FACTUS SUM (I have become God). To Western ideology, the thought has remained a stranger... in spite of those true lovers who, as they look into each other's eyes, become aware that their thought and their joy are numerically one, not merely similar or identical... "The I That Is God" as translated in Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (1984) edited by Ken Wilber The plurality that w e perceive is only an appearance; it is not real. Vedantic philosophy... has sought to clarify it by a number of
analogies, one of the most attractive being the many-faceted crystal which, while showing hundreds of little pictures of what is in reality a single existent object, does not really multiply that object... "The Mystic Vision" as translated in Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (1984) edited by Ken Wilber Knowledge, feeling, and choice are essentially eternal and unchangeable and numerically one in all men, nay in all sensitive beings. But not in this sense — that you are a part, a piece, of an eternal, infinite being, an aspect or modification of it... For we should then have the same baffling question: which part, which aspect are you? what, objectively, differentiates it from the others? No, but, inconceiveable as it seems to ordinary reason, you — and all other conscious beings as such — are all in all. Hence, this life of yours... is, in a certain sense, the whole... This, as we know, is what the Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula... ' Tat tvam asi ' — this is you. Or, again, in such words as 'I am in the east and in the west, I am below and above, I am this whole world.' Thus you can throw yourself flat on the ground, stretched out upon Mother Earth, with c ertain conviction that you
The plurality that we perceive is only an appearance; it is not real.
Inconceiveable as it seems to ordinary reason, you — and all other conscious beings as such — are all in all.
Erwin Schrödinger - Wikiquote
a r e o ne w i t h h e r a n d s h e w i t h y o u . .. F or e t e r na l l y a nd a l w a y s t h e re i s o n l y no w , one and the same now ; the present is the only thing that has no end.
"The Mystic Vision" as translated in Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists (1984) edited by Ken Wilber Our mind, by virtue of a certain finite, limited capability, is by no means capable of putting a question to Nature that permits a continuous series of answers. The observations, the individual results of measurements, are the answers of Nature to our discontinuous questioning. As quoted in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989) by Walter Moore
What Is Life? ( 1 9 4 4 )
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What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell (1944) This work is famous for
introducing the idea of an "aperiodic crystal" that contained genetic information in its configuration, which inspired J ames D. Watson to become a geneticist and to work on the discovery of the genetic role of DNA.
In physics w e have dealt hitherto only with periodic crystals. To a humble physicist's mind, these are very interesting and
complicated objects; they constitute one of the most fascinating and complex material structures by which inanimate nature puzzles his wits. Yet, compared with the aperiodic crystal, they are rather plain and dull. The difference in structure is of the same kind as that b e t w e e n a n o rd in a r y w a l l pa p e r i n w h i c h t h e s a m e p a t t e r n is repeate d again and again in regular periodicity and a maste rpiece of embroidery, say a Raphael tapestry, which show s no dull repetition, but an e laborate , coherent, mea ningful design traced by the great master.
It is these chromosomes ... that contain in some kind of code-script the entire pattern of the individual's future development and of its functioning in the mature state.
The laws of physics and chemistry are statistical throughout. It is these chromosomes ... that contain in some kind of code-script the entire pattern of the individual's future development and of its functioning in the mature state. Every complete set of chromosomes contains the full code... We have just introduced the term gene for the hypothetica l material c arrier of a definite hereditary feature...
In Darwin's theory, you just have to substitute 'mutations' for his 'slight accidental variations' (just as quantum theory substitutes 'quantum jump' for 'continuous transfer of energy'). In all other respects little change was necessary in Darwin's theory... How would we express in terms of the statistical theory the marvelous faculty of a living organism, by which it delays the decay into thermodynamical equilibrium (death)?... the device by which an organism maintains itself stationary at a fairly high level of orderliness... really consists in continually sucking orderliness from its environment.
Science and Humanism ( 1 9 5 1 )
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I a m b or n in t o a n e n v i ro nm e n t — I k n o w n ot w h e n c e I c a m e n or w h it h e r I g o no r w h o I a m . This is my situation as
yours, every single one of you. The fact that everyone always was in this same situation, and always will be, tells me nothing. Our burning q ue s t i on a s t o t h e w h e n c e a n d w h i t h e r — a l l w e c a n ourselves observe a bout it is the present environment.
That is why we are eager to find out about it as much as we can. That is science, learning, knowledge; it is the true source of every spiritual endeavour of man. We try to find out as much as we can about the spatial and temporal surroundings of the place in which we find
The isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value
Erwin Schrödinger - Wikiquote
ourselves put by birth… It see ms plain and self-evident, yet it needs to be said: the isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value w hatsoever, but only in its synthesis with a ll the rest of knowledge and
whatsoever, but only in its synthesis with all the rest of knowledge and only inasmuch as it really contributes in this synthesis toward answering the demand, "Who are we?
only inasmuc h as it really contribute s in this synthesis tow ard answering the demand, "Who are w e?"
I consider it extremely doubtful whether the happiness of the human race has been enhanced by the technical and industrial developments that followed in the wake of rapidly progressing natural science. You may ask — you are bound to ask me now: What, then, is in your opinion the value of natural science? I answer: Its scope, aim and value is the same as that of any other branch of human knowledge. Nay, none of them alone, only the union of all of them, has any scope or value at all, and that is simply enough described: it is to obey the command of the Delphic deity: gnothi seauton... get to know yourself!
Nature and the Greeks ( 1 9 5 4 )
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I a m very astonished that t he scientific picture of the rea l w orld around me is deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts a ll our ex perience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all a nd sundry that is really near to our heart, that rea lly matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet,
physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good or bad, God and eternity. Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains, but the answers are very often so silly that we are not inclined to take them seriously.
We do not belong to this material world that science constructs for us. We are not in it; we are outside. We are only spectators.
We do not belong to this mate rial world that science constructs for us. We are not in it; we a re outside. We are only spectat ors. The reason why we believe that we are in it, that
we belong to the picture, is that our bodies are in the picture. Our bodies belong to it. Not only my own body, but those of my friends, also of my dog and cat and horse, and of all the other people and animals. And this is my only means of communicating with them. Science cannot tell us a word about why music delights us, of why and how an old song can move us to tears.
Sensations and thoughts do not belong to the "world of energy."
The observing mind is not a physical system, it cannot interact with any physical system. And it might be better to reserve the term "subject" for the observing mind. ... For the subject, if anything, is the thing that senses and thinks. Sensations and thoughts do not belong to the "world of energy."
The scientific w orld-picture vouchsafes a very complete understanding of all t hat happens — it m akes it just a little t oo understandable. It allows you to imagine the total
display as that of a mechanical clockwork which, for all that science knows, could go on just the same as it does, without there being consciousness, will, endeavor, pain and delight and responsibility connected with it — though they actually are. And the reason for this disconcerting situation is just this: that for the purpose of constructing the picture of the external world, we have used the greatly simplifying device of cutting our own personality out, removing it; hence it is gone, it has evaporated, it is ostensibly not needed. In particular, and most importantly, this is the reason why the scientific worldview contains of itself
Erwin Schrödinger - Wikiquote
no ethical values, no esthetical values, not a word about our own ultimate scope or destination, and no God, if you please. Whence came I and whither go I?
Mind and Matter ( 1 9 5 8 )
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The w orld is given to me only once, not one e xisting and one perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier
between them cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist. If we were bees, ants, or Lacedaemonian warriors, to whom personal fear does not exist and cowardice is the most shameful thing in the world, warring would go on forever. But luckily we are only men - and cowards. There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind.
The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one.
The ma terial w orld has only been constructe d at the price of taking the self, that is, mind, out of it, rem oving it; mind is not part of it... Mat ter and energy seem granular in structure, and so does 'life', but not so mind.
Nature has no reverence towards life. Nature treats life as though it were the most valueless thing in the world.... Nature does not act by purposes. The sensation of colour cannot be accounted for by the physicist's objective picture of light-waves.
My View of the World ( 1 9 6 1 )
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Mein Leben, meine Weltansicht [My Life, My Wolrldview or My View of the World ] (1961)
This life of yours which you are living is not m erely a pi e c e of t hi s e nt ir e e x is t e nc e , bu t in a c e rt a in se ns e t he whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance. This, as we know, is what the
Brahmins express in that sacred, mystic formula which is yet really so simple and so clear; tat tvam asi , this is you . Or, again, in such words as "I am in the east and the west, I am above and below, I am this entire world." There is no kind of framework within which we can find consciousness in the plural; this is simply something we construct because of the temporal plurality of individuals, but it is a false construction... The only solution to this conflict insofar as any is available to us at all lies in the ancient wisdom of the Upanishad. Chapter 4
This life of yours which you are living is not merely a piece of this entire existence, but in a certain sense the whole; only this whole is not so constituted that it can be surveyed in one single glance.
Vedanta teaches that consciousness is singular, all happenings are played out in one universal consciousness and there is no multiplicity of selves. Chapter 5
Quotes about Schrödinger
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His soft, cheerful speech, his whimsical smile are engaging. And Dubliners are proud to have a Nobel Prize winner living among them. TIME magazine covering his "What is Life? " lectures at Trinity
College, Dublin (5 April 1943)
Vedanta teaches that
Erwin Schrödinger - Wikiquote consciousness is singular,
You are the only contemporary physicist, besides Laue, who sees that all happenings are played one cannot get around the assumption of reality — if only one is out in one universal consciousness and there is honest. Most of them simply do not see what sort of risky game they no multiplicity of selves. are playing with reality — reality as something independent of what is experimentally established. Their interpretation is, however, refuted most elegantly by your system of radioactive atom + amplifier + charge of gun powder + cat in a box, in which the psi-function of the system contains both the cat alive and blown to bits. Nobody really doubts that the presence or absence of the cat is something independent of the act of observation. Albert Einstein in a letter to Schrödinger (1950) The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics. In 1925, the world view of physics was a model of a great machine composed of separable interacting material particles. During the next few years, Schrodinger and Heisenberg and their followers created a universe based on super imposed inseparable waves of probability amplitudes. This new view would be entirely consistent with the Vedantic concept of All in One. Walter J . Moore
in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989) ISBN 0521437679
Like Schopenhauer, he accepted an hierarchical view of our understanding of the world, with philosophy above and physics below. Walter J . Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989) ISBN 0521437679 He rejected traditional religious beliefs (J ewish, Christian, and Islamic) not on the basis of any reasoned argument, nor even with an expression of emotional antipathy, for he loved to use religious expressions and metaphors, but simply by saying that they are naive. Walter J . Moore in Schrödinger: Life and Thought (1989) ISBN 0521437679
External links Erwin Schrödinger prize site.
[edit] biography at the official Nobel
Wikipedia has an article about: Erwin Schrödinger
Brief biography of Erwin Schrödinger by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson at the University of St Andrews Web exhibit
at the Austrian Central Library for Physics
Erwin Schrödinger
brief biography
Into the Cool (2005) by Eric D. Schneider and Dorion Sagan, Part I, Chapter 1 The Schrödinger
Paradox Indian influences on Quantum Dynamics
by Dr. C. P. Girija Vallabhan; on Schrödinger's interest in
Vedanta philosophy. Categories: Physicists | Nobel Prize winners | Austrians | 1960s deaths
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