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Schrödinger: Life and Thought (Canto Classics) Paperback – October 6, 2015

by Walter Moore (Author)

4.6 62 ratings

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Erwin Schrödinger was a brilliant and charming Austrian, a great scientist, and a man with a passionate interest in people and ideas. In this, the first comprehensive biography of Schrödinger, Walter Moore draws upon recollections of Schrödinger's friends, family and colleagues, and on contemporary records, letters and diaries. Schrödinger's life is portrayed against the backdrop of Europe at a time of change and unrest. His best known scientific work was the discovery of wave mechanics, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1933. Schrödinger led a very intense life, both in his scientific research and in his personal life. Walter Moore has written a highly readable biography of this fascinating and complex man, which will appeal not only to scientists but to anyone interested in the history of our times, and in the life and thought of one of the great men of twentieth-century science.

Review

"Moore's book is a breathtaking accomplishment … I can recommend it wholeheartedly."
Chemistry in Britain

"This book provides a fascinating insight into both the man and his times."
New Scientist

"This is the best book available today on the life and work of Schrödinger."
Times Higher Education Supplement

"… a bestseller among scientific biographies …"
Science

"What is life? That Schrödinger knew the answer, in more ways that one, is revealed to us in this biography."
Nature

Book Description

A highly readable biography of the great scientist, Erwin Schrödinger (author of What is Life?).

Print length

523 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Cambridge University Press
Publication date

October 6, 2015
Dimensions

5.5 x 1.19 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1107569915
ISBN-13

978-1107569911
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; Reissue edition (October 6, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 523 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1107569915
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1107569911
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.56 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.19 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,858,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,476 in Scientist Biographies
- #3,857 in Medical Professional Biographies
- #6,401 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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4.6 62 ratings

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Rolando Blest

Schrödinger

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2019

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Good:The book is a very good history about the life of Schrödinger. For meit gave details that I did not know. If you wanto to know how is the life of a physicist during the 30's and 40's ( Second War World) this is the book.
Bad: the quality of the pressing is not got in the pages where there are photographies. I hope that in the future pressing this could be resolved.
Lo bueno. Este libro es muy bueno si uno desea conocer la vida de Schrödinger. Al leerlo ( aún no lo termino pues estoy en la página 356) lo he encontrado muy claro y con detalles que no conocía. Además hace notar los hechos situados en el período de la Segunda Guerra Mundial donde las cosas eran muy dificiles para todo el mundo.
Lo malo: La calidad de la impresión en las páginas donde hay fotografías no es buena. espero que en las próximas ediciones mejoren este tema.

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Maria Eugenia Nunez

TOTAL PERFECTION.

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2015

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH. TOTAL PERFECTION. MAILED SUPER FAST. EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK IN THEIR LIBRARY.

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Klaus Stiefel

All aspects of Schrödinger covered

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2005

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Walter Moore captures the life of Erwin Schrödinger, one of the most important theoretical physicists of the 20th century, covering his career, science, philosophy and personal life.

In this ambitious book Moore tries to shed light on all aspects of Schrödinger's life, and tries to connect them, but no coherent picture evolves. I had the impression, however, that this is not Moore's fault, but that the pieces that made up Erwin Schrödinger did not fit into a coherent whole.

A gifted student from an early age on, he took on physics. After initially dwelling in different sub-fields, he developed wave mechanics at the (for creative work in theoretical physics) late age of 38. His almost unparalelled mathematical skills made this advance possible. Schrödinger never saw mathematics only as a tool, but he greatly appreciated it's beauty. Moore does an excellent job in describing the intellectual journey towards this discovery, as well as the giants on who's shoulders Schrödinger was standing. For this work Schrödinger received the Nobel prize in 1933.

In his later years, he dedicated a substantial part of his efforts to the search for a unified (quantum mechanics - relativity) theory of physics. Just like Einstein, with whom he had an extensive correspondence about the mater, he failed. Schrödinger's scientific work is explained in quite a bit of detail. Despite being quite familiar with differential equations, but without a background in theoretical physics, I must admit that I had a hard time following Schrödinger's insights as presented by Moore.

From his student days on, Erwin Schrödinger was a believer in the Indian teachings of Vedanta, proclaiming a one-ness of all minds, which make up reality. It is hard to see how a rational 20th century scientist could adhere so uncritically to an ancient religion. However, these beliefs seemingly did not influence his science much and neither did they influence his personal life.

His personal life was, nevertheless, unusual. He was a lover of interesting women, and he had many (I am all for that!), but many of his loves were still teenagers, while he was in his 30s and 40s (very weired!). For a man of such high intellectual capacity, this shows very poor moral judgment. He was not solely interested in sex, but sincerely in love with many of them and wrote them love poems.

Schrödinger also showed somewhat poor moral judgment in terms of politics, although the turmoils of the 20th century greatly affected him (he was removed from his professorship in Graz by the Nazis). He was not an opportunist, like so many of his fellow Austrian and German physicists. Although he leaned to the left, he basically was not interested in politics at all. An irresponsible neglect during the rise of fascism in Europe!

Moore brings together all these aspects of Erwin Schrödinger, and he does so with lots of knowledge of the local culture and history of the places Schrödinger visited and lived at (Vienna, Graz, Dublin, Cambridge). This is a well researched book in all aspects and one with lots of sympathy for "Erwin".

12 people found this helpful

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Charly

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2018

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Very good conditions!!

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2014

good

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2014

thanks

Scientific and sexual fireworks.

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2003

This is a masterful biography, but one need to have a profound knowledge of higher mathematics and a basic one in physics to fully understand it.

Walter Moore shows that Schrödinger's life and thought was at least controversial.

Life
Schrödinger's personal itinerary is exemplary for the 20th century. He was born in a comfortable upper-middle class, but his parents lost their savings in the German inflation after WW I. The result was famine and diseases. It marked the rest of his life. As a young man he was confronted with unemployment and nearly left physics for financial reasons!
He found a decent job only at the age of 34. Even after winning the Nobel Prize he was still confronted with 'pension' problems.

Science
Walter Moore gives us a magisterial and detailed analysis of the scientific discoveries of ES, from his humble beginnings to the elaboration of the quantum wave function and after.
It shows that ES was above all a mathematical genius and a not so brilliant experimenter.
ES remained all his life opposed to the complemantary (particle/wave) interpretation of quantum mechanics (the 'Kopenhagen oracle' for ES). For him, there were only waves!

Sex
Beside science, sex was the principal occupation of his life, with all combinations imaginable. He lived a ménage à trois and sometimes à quatre, but still fell in love with other women, also with very young ones for he had a Lolita complex. He could without doubt have been accused of paedophilia.
But his intense love affairs stimulated highly his scientific creativity.
One can only wonder if his 'wild' behaviour and negative view of bourgeois marriage were not fundamentally influenced by the fact that he couldn't marry his first true love, because her family found that he was too poor!

Politics
He had a deep contempt for the governing classes (politicians, clergy) who 'enslave men by violence and use the religious desire of many people to promote superstition to rule over the dispossessed'. He also distrusted democracy!

Philosophical world view
This is certainly one of the strangest aspects of his thoughts.
He was convinced that physics provided absolutely no answers to philosophical questions (e. g. free will). All his life he remained, like Einstein, an adept of determinism.
His philosophical views and ethical principles were completely dissociated from his real life!
As an adept of the Vedanta, he believed the Buddhist wisdom that a thing could be both A and non-A (horribile dictu)!
He was also heavily influenced by the philosophy of Schopenhauer.

This work gives excellent explanations of the Vedanta, and the philosophy of Mach and Schopenhauer.
It contains a very painful paragraph on Heidegger.

I see only one minus point: the author doesn't give Bohr's pertinent response to the EPR-article against the Copenhagen interpretation of qm.

This is a brilliant book and certainly the definitive biography of Schrödinger. It is by no means a hagiography and doesn't dodge some 'weird' aspects of Schrödinger's life.
Not to be missed.

35 people found this helpful

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Harry A. Kiesel

I enjoyed it. My only criticism is that too little ...

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2016

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This is a fascinating read about an extremely creative scientist. I enjoyed it. My only criticism is that too little of Schrodinger's own writing was included. I would say that it helps to know a bit of graduate level physics to appreciate what this man was able to accomplish.

One person found this helpful

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Junior

Interessant

Reviewed in Germany on June 6, 2019

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Sehr interessantes Buch. Natürlich entsprechen nicht immer alle Passagen den eigenen Interessen, aber da ich etwas selektiert habe, habe ich viel erfahren. Die physikalischen Beschreibungen seiner Arbeiten und Gedanken waren sehr spannend.

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Clara Janés

Five Stars

Reviewed in Spain on November 29, 2014

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muy muy bueno

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ivassena

Recensione positiva

Reviewed in Italy on August 23, 2014

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Pronta consegna. Prodotto conforme alle aspettative. Biografia ampia, simpaticamente elaborata e con valutazione storica obiettiva. Consigliata per chi voglia comprendere come cresce e si svolge un visionario.

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Leo Carter

AN EXCELLENT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF AN INCREDIBLY GIFTED SCIENTIST

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2009

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Of all those who have walked this Earth, none can deny that Erwin Schrodinger must rank as one of the greatest geniuses of all time. He developed wave mechanics, the inspired discovery which revolutionized quantum mechanics. He derived both the non-relativistic and relativistic versions of his Schrodinger wave equation - the foundations of modern quantum mechanics. He also proved that the mathematical result arrived at by both wave and matrix mechanics was identical, thereby unifying quantum mechanics into a coherent whole. In short, Schrodinger helped us come closer to understanding the true nature of atoms and subatomic particles than perhaps anyone before or after him. His work made it possible for DNA to be discovered and for molecular biology to develop into the vibrant field that it is today. His discoveries are also relevant to the study of consciousness thanks to their applications to the 'Quantum Mind Theory'.

In the light of these great facts about Erwin Schrodinger, one would expect a considerably excellent effort to be made on any biography written about him. This is the case here. The author has written a thoroughly detailed and accurate account of the scientist's personal and professional life. All of his discoveries are described and explained in understandable language (the author is a research scientist himself). Care is also taken to emphasise the passion that Schrodinger had regarding his quest to find answers to seemingly insurmountable mathematical and physical questions.

Overall, this is a great and fitting book about the greatest of scientists.

One person found this helpful

Adam Carlton

Great physicist - dubious kind of guy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2009

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I was impressed by the freshness of Moore's writing and his diligence in unearthing the daily life of Erwin Schrodinger over so many years. What do you make of a guy who spent his life falling in love easily with so many women and then seducing them? A man who in his forties suffers what Moore euphemistically calls a 'Lolita complex'? He ends up with three daughters, none by his wife, who he remains married to until the end. At least the girls got good intellectual genes.

Schrodinger was no friend to the concept of 'bourgeois marriage', and it might be argued in these enlightened times that he was doing nothing wrong. However, his lifelong self-centred and adolescent attitude to relationships led to collateral damage to many (not all) of the woman with whom he involved himself. Typically it was the younger or less well-educated who were left holding the baby, or worse.

His work was mostly blindingly competent in the spirit of mathematical physics. A strong visualiser, he was close in philosophy to Einstein and had little patience with the Bohr-Born interpretation of his wave equation. His culture, approach, techniques and beliefs all seem curiously dated now, but this was a first rate scientific biography.

This version of the book has the physics as well as the sex. The level is not particularly daunting ... first degree in physics or maths is fine.

4 people found this helpful

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