Google's
latest doodle marks the birthday of Erwin Schrödinger, the Nobel prize-winning
quantum physicist whose eponymous equation lies at the heart of quantum
mechanics.
He
repeatedly criticised conventional interpretations of quantum mechanics by using
the paradox of what would become known as Schrödinger's cat. This thought
experiment was designed to illustrate what he saw as the problems surrounding
application of the conventional, so-called "Copenhagen
interpretation" of quantum mechanics to everyday objects.
Schrödinger
proposed a scenario with a cat in a sealed box, wherein the cat's life or death
depended on the state of a subatomic particle. According to Schrödinger, the
Copenhagen interpretation implies that the cat remains both alive and dead
(to the universe outside the box) until the box is opened and the function
collapses.
For those who
haven’t read Schrödinger or are not familiar with
the man’s character - Schrödinger was a debonair,
passionate, poetic philosopher and a romantic baronessck. He wrote books about
the ancient Greeks, on philosophy and religion. He was influenced by Hinduism,
flamboyant, cool, suave, sophisticated,
dapper dresser and a big hit
with the ladies.
It
is said that Schrödinger’s promiscuity was legendary, having a string of girlfriends throughout
his married life – some of them much younger than him. In 1925, the 38-year-old
Schrödinger stayed at the Alpine resort of Arosa Switzerland for a secret liaison
with an old girlfriend. It’s said that their passion proved to be the catalyst
for Schrödinger’s creative genius.
Another
physicist said of Schrödinger’s week of sexually inspired physics - he had two tasks that week, satisfy a women
and solve the riddle of the atom. Fortunately he was up to both. Schrödinger argued,
crucially, that the electron was the wave of energy, vibrating so fast it
looked like a cloud around the atom and went on to develop what is now known as
the Schrödinger equation. This describes
the wave [completely] and hence the atom in terms of traditional physics.
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