Physicist timeline
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physics Timeline
This static page gathers the Physics records in the database for Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger.
Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger in the Physics archive
This static timeline brings together 80 physics records for Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger, spanning 1910–1960. The records connect the physicist with events including Doctorate Awarded, Voluntary Military Service, Assistant to Franz Exner, Radioactivity Research, Crystal Lattice Research, Habilitation.
Locations and countries represented in this timeline include Austria. Use the chronological table below to follow the sequence of research, discoveries, appointments and related events.
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Physics records
| Date | Person | Event | Place | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May 1910 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Doctoral Student | Doctorate Awarded | Vienna, Austria | Receives his doctorate from the University of Vienna for research on the conduction of electricity over the surface of insulators in moist air. |
| 1910 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Voluntary Military Service | Austria | Begins voluntary military service in fortress artillery after completing his doctorate, temporarily interrupting his academic work. |
| 1911 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Assistant Physicist | Assistant to Franz Exner | Vienna, Austria | Becomes an assistant in experimental physics under Franz Exner and gains laboratory experience that later informs his theoretical reasoning. |
| 1912 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Assistant Physicist | Radioactivity Research | Vienna, Austria | Investigates radioactivity and the statistical character of radioactive decay while working in Vienna. |
| 1913 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Assistant Physicist | Crystal Lattice Research | Vienna, Austria | Studies the kinetic theory of solids and the dynamics of crystal lattices as part of his early research programme. |
| 1 September 1914 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Lecturer | Habilitation | Vienna, Austria | Completes his habilitation and obtains the qualification required to teach independently at university level. |
| 1914 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Artillery Officer | First World War Military Service | Austria | Enters wartime service as an artillery officer in the Austro-Hungarian forces while continuing to think and write about physics. |
| 1915 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Artillery Officer | Physics Research During War | Austria | Continues scientific work during military service and maintains active engagement with theoretical physics despite wartime duties. |
| 1916 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Artillery Officer | Italian Front Service | Italian Front, Austria | Serves on the Italian front as an artillery officer while remaining intellectually active in physics. |
| 1917 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Statistical Physics Work | Austria | Continues developing ideas in statistical and theoretical physics during the later years of the First World War. |
| 1918 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Colour Vision Research Begins | Vienna, Austria | Begins a substantial programme of research on physiological optics and colour vision that continues into the early 1920s. |
| 1918 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Return to Vienna Research | Vienna, Austria | Returns to academic work in Vienna after the war and resumes research in theoretical and experimental physics. |
| 1919 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Colour Theory Publications | Vienna, Austria | Publishes work on colour theory and physiological optics, extending his interests beyond conventional theoretical physics. |
| 24 March 1920 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Marriage to Annemarie Bertel | Austria | Marries Annemarie Bertel while establishing his academic career in Germany. |
| 1920 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Assistant | Jena Appointment | Jena, Austria | Accepts an academic assistantship in Jena, beginning a rapid series of university appointments in Germany. |
| 1920 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Stuttgart Professorship | Stuttgart, Austria | Moves from Jena to Stuttgart as an extraordinary professor and continues research in theoretical physics and colour vision. |
| 1921 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Breslau Professorship | Breslau, Austria | Takes an ordinary professorship at Breslau during a period of rapid advancement through German universities. |
| 1921 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Zurich Chair of Theoretical Physics | Zurich, Austria | Accepts the chair of theoretical physics at the University of Zurich, beginning the most productive period of his scientific career. |
| 1922 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Zurich Thermodynamics Research | Zurich, Austria | Works on thermodynamics, statistical mechanics and the specific heats of solids during his early years at Zurich. |
| 1923 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Atomic Spectra Research | Zurich, Austria | Investigates problems in atomic spectra as his attention increasingly shifts toward unresolved questions in quantum theory. |
| 1924 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Quantum Statistics Research | Zurich, Austria | Begins intensive work on quantum statistics and the statistical behaviour of particles, helping redirect his research toward quantum foundations. |
| 15 December 1925 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Einstein Gas Theory Paper | Zurich, Austria | Submits a paper on Einstein's gas theory that forms part of the immediate intellectual background to his development of wave mechanics. |
| 1925 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | de Broglie Matter Waves Influence | Zurich, Austria | Studies Louis de Broglie's matter-wave ideas and recognizes that they may provide a new route to understanding atomic structure. |
| 27 January 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | First Eigenvalue Paper Submitted | Zurich, Austria | Submits the first paper in his series on quantization as an eigenvalue problem, applying wave mechanics to the hydrogen atom. |
| 6 April 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Second Eigenvalue Paper | Zurich, Austria | Publishes the second paper in his wave-mechanics series and extends the new formalism beyond the first hydrogen calculations. |
| 4 May 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Wave and Matrix Mechanics Equivalence | Zurich, Austria | Publishes a demonstration that his wave mechanics and Heisenberg's matrix mechanics are mathematically equivalent formulations of quantum theory. |
| 9 July 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Coherent State Harmonic Oscillator Paper | Zurich, Austria | Publishes work on the relation between microscopic and macroscopic mechanics that introduces what later become known as coherent states for the harmonic oscillator. |
| 1 December 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Undulatory Theory Physical Review Paper | Zurich, Austria | Publishes an English-language account of wave mechanics in Physical Review under the title An Undulatory Theory of the Mechanics of Atoms and Molecules. |
| 1926 | Erwin Schrodinger Physicist | Wave Equation for Atomic Electrons | Zurich, Austria | Formulates wave mechanics in which electron states in atoms are represented by wavefunctions obeying the Schrodinger equation. |
| 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Hydrogen Spectrum Wave Mechanics | Zurich, Austria | Uses the new wave equation to derive the allowed energy levels of the hydrogen atom from an eigenvalue problem rather than prescribed electron orbits. |
| 1926 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Wave Function Interpretation | Zurich, Austria | Proposes a continuous wave-based physical interpretation of the quantum state while developing his new formulation of quantum mechanics. |
| October 1927 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Solvay Quantum Theory Discussions | Brussels, Austria | Takes part in the fifth Solvay Conference, where leading physicists debate the interpretation and foundations of the newly developed quantum mechanics. |
| 1927 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Berlin Scientific Colloquia | Berlin, Austria | Participates actively in the major physics colloquia of Berlin after succeeding Max Planck in the city's leading theoretical-physics chair. |
| 1928 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Nobel Prize Nomination Begins | Austria | Receives early nominations for the Nobel Prize in Physics as the international significance of his wave-mechanics work becomes widely recognized. |
| 1929 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Wave Mechanics Recognition | Berlin, Austria | Continues receiving international recognition for wave mechanics as his formulation becomes a standard foundation of quantum theory. |
| 1930 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Quantum Foundations Research | Berlin, Austria | Continues research on the conceptual foundations of quantum theory while questioning purely statistical interpretations of the wave function. |
| 1931 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Berlin Theoretical Physics Research | Berlin, Austria | Maintains an active programme of theoretical research in Berlin while engaging with leading physicists working on quantum mechanics and field theory. |
| 1932 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Quantum Interpretation Debate | Berlin, Austria | Continues challenging aspects of the emerging Copenhagen interpretation and argues for a more complete wave-based account of quantum phenomena. |
| 1933 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Nobel Laureate | Nobel Lecture on Wave Mechanics | Stockholm, Austria | Presents his Nobel lecture on wave mechanics and explains the development and physical meaning of the new quantum formalism. |
| 1933 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger | Nobel Prize | Stockholm, Austria | Shares the Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries in atomic theory and quantum mechanics. |
| 1933 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Nobel Laureate | Nobel Prize Shared with Paul Dirac | Stockholm, Austria | Shares the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physics with Paul Dirac for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory. |
| 1934 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Visiting Lecturer | Princeton Lectures | Princeton, Austria | Delivers lectures at Princeton University on quantum mechanics and related theoretical problems after leaving Germany. |
| 1934 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Princeton Position Declined | Princeton, Austria | Declines an offered permanent position at Princeton University and continues his search for a suitable European academic post. |
| 1935 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Theoretical Physicist | Entanglement Concept | Oxford, Austria | Introduces and develops the concept later known as quantum entanglement to describe the inseparability of correlated quantum systems. |
| 1935 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Theoretical Physicist | EPR Response Papers | Oxford, Austria | Responds to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument with papers exploring the consequences of quantum correlations and the completeness of quantum mechanics. |
| 1935 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Theoretical Physicist | Quantum Superposition Thought Experiment | Oxford, Austria | Highlights the tension between microscopic superposition and everyday observation. |
| 1935 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Theoretical Physicist | Schrodingers Cat | Oxford, Austria | Introduces the cat thought experiment to illustrate quantum measurement problems. |
| 1935 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Theoretical Physicist | Steering Discussion | Oxford, Austria | Analyzes how measurement choices on one part of an entangled system can constrain descriptions of the other, anticipating the modern concept of quantum steering. |
| 1936 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Return to Austria | Graz, Austria | Returns to Austria to take a professorship at the University of Graz after several years in Britain. |
| 1937 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Graz Theoretical Physics Work | Graz, Austria | Continues research and teaching in theoretical physics at Graz while political conditions in Austria grow increasingly unstable. |
| 1938 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Dismissal after Anschluss | Graz, Austria | Loses his university position after the German annexation of Austria because his earlier departure from Nazi Germany is treated as politically suspect. |
| 1938 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Refugee Physicist | Escape from Austria | Austria | Leaves Austria after the Anschluss and escapes first to Italy before seeking a new academic position elsewhere in Europe. |
| 1938 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Visiting Physicist | Return to Oxford | Oxford, Austria | Returns temporarily to Oxford after fleeing Austria and resumes contact with British academic colleagues. |
| 1939 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Ghent Appointment | Ghent, Austria | Takes a temporary academic position at the University of Ghent before moving to Ireland. |
| 1939 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Move to Dublin | Dublin, Austria | Moves to Dublin after receiving an invitation to help establish a new centre for advanced theoretical research in Ireland. |
| 1940 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | School of Theoretical Physics Directorship | Dublin, Austria | Becomes director of the School of Theoretical Physics at the newly established Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. |
| 1941 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Dublin Theoretical Physics Programme | Dublin, Austria | Develops the research programme of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and helps establish it as an international centre for theoretical physics. |
| 1942 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Unified Field Theory Research | Dublin, Austria | Pursues mathematical approaches to unifying gravitation and electromagnetism while directing theoretical-physics research in Dublin. |
| February 1943 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Lecturer | Aperiodic Crystal Concept | Dublin, Austria | Argues in his What Is Life? lectures that hereditary information could be encoded in an aperiodic molecular structure within living cells. |
| February 1943 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Lecturer | What Is Life Lectures | Dublin, Austria | Delivers the celebrated What Is Life? lectures at Trinity College Dublin under the auspices of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. |
| 1944 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | Negative Entropy Discussion | Dublin, Austria | Explains biological organization using the language of thermodynamics and describes living systems as sustaining order through exchanges with their environment. |
| 1944 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | Order from Order Concept | Dublin, Austria | Develops the idea that living organisms maintain ordered structure by exploiting highly organized molecular processes in his book What Is Life?. |
| 1945 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Postwar Dublin Research | Dublin, Austria | Continues leading theoretical research in Dublin after the Second World War while working on quantum foundations and unified-field ideas. |
| 1946 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | Statistical Thermodynamics Publication | Dublin, Austria | Publishes Statistical Thermodynamics, presenting a concise treatment of entropy, ensembles and the statistical foundations of thermodynamic behaviour. |
| 1947 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | General Relativity Research | Dublin, Austria | Continues mathematical investigations into general relativity and attempts to formulate unified descriptions of gravitation and electromagnetism. |
| 1948 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Field Theory Publications | Dublin, Austria | Publishes further work on field theory as part of his sustained effort to find a unified mathematical framework for fundamental interactions. |
| 1949 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Quantum Foundations Lectures | Dublin, Austria | Continues lecturing and writing on the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics, emphasizing unresolved questions about measurement and physical reality. |
| 1950 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Unified Field Theory Programme | Dublin, Austria | Maintains an active research programme on unified field theory despite the growing dominance of other approaches in postwar theoretical physics. |
| 1951 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Science and Humanism Lectures | Dublin, Austria | Develops lectures connecting scientific knowledge with broader philosophical questions about human understanding, culture and responsibility. |
| 1952 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | Science and Humanism Publication | Dublin, Austria | Publishes Science and Humanism, arguing that scientific inquiry should be understood within a wider intellectual and philosophical culture. |
| 1953 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Nature and the Greeks Lectures | Dublin, Austria | Examines the origins of scientific thought in ancient Greek philosophy and connects those ideas with modern questions about nature and knowledge. |
| 1954 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | Nature and the Greeks Publication | Dublin, Austria | Publishes reflections on ancient Greek natural philosophy and its continuing influence on the conceptual foundations of modern science. |
| 1955 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Director | Retirement from Dublin Institute | Dublin, Austria | Retires from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies after directing its School of Theoretical Physics for more than fifteen years. |
| 1956 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Return to Vienna Professorship | Vienna, Austria | Returns to Vienna to take an honoured university position and resume teaching in the city where his scientific career began. |
| 1956 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Lecturer | Vienna Quantum Mechanics Lectures | Vienna, Austria | Resumes university teaching in Vienna and presents lectures on quantum mechanics, statistical physics and the conceptual foundations of modern physics. |
| 1957 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Mind and Matter Lectures | Vienna, Austria | Develops a series of lectures examining the relationship between consciousness, observation and the physical description of nature. |
| 1958 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | Mind and Matter Publication | Vienna, Austria | Publishes Mind and Matter, exploring philosophical questions about consciousness and its relationship to the physical world. |
| 1958 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Author | My View of the World Essays | Vienna, Austria | Brings together philosophical reflections on science, mind and reality that later appear in collections associated with his personal worldview. |
| 1959 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Professor | Late Quantum Foundations Work | Vienna, Austria | Continues writing and lecturing on quantum theory and philosophy during the final years of his academic life. |
| 1960 | Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrodinger Physicist | Final Scientific Writings | Vienna, Austria | Completes some of his final scientific and philosophical writings while living in Vienna during a period of declining health. |