Review of ``A Life of Schrödinger'' by Walter Moore
Together with the discovery of special and general theory of relativity, the development of quantum mechanics ranks among the most significant acheivements of modern science. It completely transformed our understanding of the physical laws of the micro-world at atomic and sub-atomic scales. During the period when quantum theory was developed there was an unprecedented degree of intellectual ferment in the world of physics, particularly in Europe. These developments also took place in an era of considerable political and intellectual turmoil. Physicists, as much as other intellectuals, were deeply influenced by the social and political events of this period.
It is not surprising therefore that the founders of quantum mechanics were complex, multi-faceted personalities and that their lives exercise considerable fascination for the layman as well as the scientist. Walter Moore's biography provides a erudite and eminently readable account of the life of Erwin Schrödinger, one of the leading figures of this group, but in many ways also a man apart, differring from his contemporaries both in style and in his world-view.
Schrödinger's early scientific career was interrupted by the First World War. Managing to survive despite being posted to the brutal Italian front, Schrödinger returned to safer Vienna midway through the war, continuing to work despite the increasing hardship of daily life in the Austrian capital. The manner in which Schrödinger slowly develops his scientific style is one of the interesting aspects of this period and is well recounted in the book. He takes his time to turn his full attention to the crisis of the old quantum theory, spending an inordinate amount of time on colour theory ( a surprising choice for those times) and statistical mechanics.
It is already 1921-22 by the time he turns to quantum theory. From then on though, he is increasingly focussed on this issue and everything points towards his best work that is in gestation. The year 1926 is Schrödinger's great year, like Einstein's 1905. In six papers Schrödinger developed what today is fundamental to the "study of much of physics and all of chemistry." Though preceded by six months by Heisenberg ( along with the later addition of Born and Jordan) with his matrix mechanics, Schrödinger's technique based on the equation bearing his name has proven by far the more powerful tool in applying quantum theory to different physical phenomena.
Schrödinger in his scientific work, including his position on the interpretation of quantum mechanics, was particularly close to Einstein, a point brought out well in the book. Einstein's famous paper with Podolsky and Rosen inspired the one by Schrödinger where his famous cat made its appearance. Subsequently, in his Dublin years, he turned to unified field theory for a lengthy period, maintaining constant correspondence with Einstein.
But Schrödinger's life as a whole including his philosophical world-view had none of the coherence of an Einstein. Deeply influenced by German Orientalism and his own study of Hindu classics, Schrödinger remained philosphically committed to Vedanta, in sharp contrast to the philosophical realism explicitly stated in his position in the quantum mechanics debate. The disjunction that frequently appears between a scientist's `personal' philosophical views and the one that emerges from his scientific views is sharply evident here.
The outstanding feature of Schrödinger's personal life was the total abandonment of any conventional notions of morality, an aspect of his life of which his colleagues were remarkably tolerant. From the viewpoint of the 90s such psychological drives are perhaps more easily understood. But more problematic is his ambivalent attitude to Nazism and the political naivete that he displayed in his return to Austria in 1936, a point that his biographer is somewhat defensive about. There are unpleasant episodes like his support to an attempt ( explicitly motivated by anti-Semitic concerns) to prove that ether does exist and his public expression of support to the Nazis (in a letter to the press) after the annexation of Austria. Though subsequently he fled from the Nazis, his refusal to retract the letter clearly tarnished his image in the eyes of his contemporaries.
Moving to Dublin after leaving Austria, Schrödinger slowly passes off the centre-stage of physics, except for the remarkable set of lectures published as the book "What is Life?", that was to have a profound effect, motivating many people to turn to the study of what we now know as molecular biology. Moore traces the genesis of these ideas well, pointing out their roots in earlier lectures and essays by Schrödinger. It is also the one work where Schrödinger's Vedanta directly intrudes on his science, albeit in a concluding chapter.
Moore is a sympathetic biographer, indeed perhaps a bit too sympathetic. There is more than a touch of hyperbole in describing his research activity in 1926 as ``without an equal in the history of science, ..in the intensity of its creativity...'' (surely not more than that of Newton or Einstein?). And there is more than a touch of hindsight in describing Schrödinger's postion vis-a-vis the Copenhagen Interpretation as resistance to orthodoxy and dogma, when indeed Schrödinger took the orthodox position of his time. Overall the picture of a rebel does not really fit Schrödinger.
The book is nevertheless fascinating reading and will hopefully inspire readers to read the full version of which this Canto edition is an abridgement.
About the author: T. Jayaraman works in theoretical high-energy physics at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Madras.