Erwin Schrödinger

Facts

Erwin Schrödinger

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Erwin Schrödinger
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1933

Born: 12 August 1887, Vienna, Austria

Died: 4 January 1961, Vienna, Austria

Affiliation at the time of the award: Berlin University, Berlin, Germany

Prize motivation: “for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory”

Prize share: 1/2

Life

Erwin Schrödinger was born in Vienna, where he also attended university. During the 1920s, he worked at several German universities, but left Germany in 1934 because of his opposition to Nazism. His unconventional private life—in addition to his wife, he also lived with another woman—made it difficult to obtain a permanent position. From 1940 he was involved in the development and management of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin. In addition to physics, Schrödinger was also interested in philosophy and biology.

Work

In Niels Bohr’s theory of the atom, electrons absorb and emit radiation of fixed wavelengths when jumping between fixed orbits around a nucleus. The theory provided a good description of the spectrum created by the hydrogen atom, but needed to be developed to suit more complicated atoms and molecules. Assuming that matter (e.g., electrons) could be regarded as both particles and waves, in 1926 Erwin Schrödinger formulated a wave equation that accurately calculated the energy levels of electrons in atoms.

To cite this section
MLA style: Erwin Schrödinger – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Tue. 19 Mar 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1933/schrodinger/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Eleven laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Their work and discoveries range from effective mRNA vaccines and attosecond physics to fighting against the oppression of women.

See them all presented here.
Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.