Erwin Schroedinger | Fotoeins Fotografie

Vienna: physicist Erwin Schrödinger

(T60 E59 V26)

In 1933, the Nobel Prize Foundation awarded the physics prize jointly to Dr. Erwin Schrödinger and Dr. Paul Dirac for their development of techniques to solve problems in the burgeoning field of atomic physics. Schrödinger established the system of wave mechanics to study the motion within atoms and molecules. The mathematical forms for the wave properties of matter directly led to solutions as well as further insights in modern atomic physics.

The following images show some of the places where Schrödinger (1887–1961) spent time in his work- and home-life: traces he left behind in Vienna. He and his wife are buried in the Tirolean town of Alpbach.

University of Vienna (1.)

*Next to the Ringstraße is the University of Vienna main building by **Heinrich Ferstel** and inaugurated in 1884.*

*Erwin’s youthful gaze is part of the university’s display of its Nobel Prize laureates.*

*Memorial statue in Arkadenhof: Erwin Schrödinger’s equation in quantum mechanics is what Newton’s equation “F = ma” is to classical mechanics.*

(2nd) Institute of Physics (9.)

*Former location of the (second) Physics Institute, 1875 to 1913*.

*Memorial plaque on the exterior wall, in recognition of some of the scientists who once worked at the Physics Institute, including Stefan, Boltzmann, Meyer, Meitner, Hess, and Schrödinger.*

Schrödinger Residence (9.)

*Building address Pasteurgasse 4, where Schrödinger lived for a number of years, near the Strudlhofstiege staircase.*

*Memorial plaque at Pasteurgasse 4: “University of Vienna professor, physicist, and Nobel Prize laureate Erwin Schrödinger lived in this building from 1956 to 1961.”*

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 6 Jul 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-t9q.

Erwin Schroedinger, Annemarie Schroedinger, Alpbach Cemetery, Heiliger Oswald, Pfarrkirche Alpbach, Alpbach, Tirol, Tyrol, Austria, fotoeins.com

Alpbach, Austria: finding Erwin Schrödinger

Localizing his final wavefunction in Alpbach.

It took a little effort: a train out from Innsbruck to Brixlegg, followed by a regional bus into another valley of countless valleys, accompanied by the illumination of sharp morning light, in a blanket of meadows and buttercups, under a deep ocean of impossibly blue skies. And on both sides of this river valley are an endless series of mountains, these peaks the smaller cousins to larger Austrian Alps nearby.

In Alpbach, the weekday morning is quiet, as the town begins to stir with people starting their work day. The bank has just opened, fresh baked bread and pastry and roasted coffee emanate from the cafe from around the corner, a couple of trucks rumble into town with deliveries. An older couple walks by, and there are mutual sunny greets of “Grüss Gott”. The church steeple glows yellow at this hour, and it’s easy to imagine with its bell the church is an aural and visual beacon for miles.

I’m drawn to the church because that was always the plan, to look for someone who’s buried in the church cemetery. Ordered rows of headstones lie as you would expect, but by the northwest gate, I find a single plaque on the bordering stone wall. The plaque reads: “Erwin Schrödinger, Nobelpreis für Physik, 1933”, and next to the plaque is Erwin and Annemarie Schrödinger’s final resting spot^%. Another academic pilgrimage completed.

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