Welcome to a mind-bending journey through the enigmatic world of one of the greatest theoretical physicists of all time – Erwin Schrödinger! You may have heard of him through his famous “Schrödinger's Cat” thought experiment, but this brilliant Austrian physicist had a whole lot more to offer than just a curious feline in a box. Today, we're diving into the fascinating realm of theoretical Erwin Schrödinger quotes, unlocking the secrets of the universe, and exploring the quirky genius behind them!
Picture this: it's a summer day in 1935, and Erwin Schrödinger is sitting under the shade of a towering oak tree, sipping tea, and pondering the fundamental nature of reality. As he watches the branches sway in the gentle breeze, a peculiar idea strikes him – an idea that would go on to become one of the most iconic thought experiments in science history. This curious concept would feature a hypothetical cat, a radioactive atom, and a mind-bending superposition, all wrapped up in a single box. Fast forward to today, and we're still grappling with the implications of Schrödinger's Cat, just one of the many intriguing ideas from this brilliant mind. So, grab a seat, fasten your seatbelts, and prepare to be amazed by 50 thought-provoking Erwin Schrödinger quotes that will challenge your perceptions of the universe and leave you in awe of the mysteries that surround us!
The Quantum Universe
1. “The task is… not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.”
2. “Quantum physics thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe.”
3. “The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived.”
4. “Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.”
5. “Quantum mechanics is in the first place a theory of probabilities, a mathematical construct for describing facts in terms of probabilities.”
6. “The quantum phenomenon demands a description in terms of two kinds of reality: waves and corpuscles.”
7. “The multiplicity is only apparent. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads. And not of the Upanishads only. The mystical experience of the union with God regularly leads to this view.”
8. “What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space.”
9. “The world is a construct of our sensations, perceptions, memories. It is convenient to regard it as existing objectively on its own.”
10. “The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.”
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Reality and Perception
- “The scientific picture of the real world around me is deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart.”
- “The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived. Subject and object are only one.”
- “If we were bees, ants, or Lilliputians, tall buildings and the innumerable houses would not exist for us, and would not be constructed.”
- “The world is a construct of our sensations, perceptions, memories. It is convenient to regard it as existing objectively on its own.”
- “The reality that we can put into words is never reality itself.”
- “The sensation of color cannot be accounted for by the physicist's objective picture of light-waves.”
- “A permanent world cannot be ‘constructed' by a fear-ridden people.”
- “We do not belong to this material world that science constructs for us.”
- “What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space.”
- “The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived.”
Consciousness and Existence
- “The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one perceived.”
- “Consciousness cannot be accounted for in physical terms. For consciousness is absolutely fundamental. It cannot be accounted for in terms of anything else.”
- “Consciousness is never experienced in the plural, only in the singular.”
- “Consciousness is a singular of which the plural is unknown.”
- “The idea of a soul as a separate entity is a misconception.”
- “The living organism is to be seen as something physical. But the living organism is also an organized system of particles, and it is as such that it is to be seen as a physical entity.”
- “Living substance as such, is constituted by conscious experience.”
- “The ‘I' of the thinking machine, the brain, ‘the soul', this small timid God, this wisp of a soul… is now dead.”
- “The ‘I' of the conscious mind is a very small part of the total mind.”
- “The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics.”
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Mathematics and Reality
- “Geometry is knowledge of the eternally existent.”
- “The waves are mathematically simple, and it is quite easy to find the solutions to the equations describing them.”
- “I must seem to be a crank to you; I, who have passed my life in studying the physical world, find myself not uninterested in this, the highest of all sciences.”
- “The wave function of a material particle cannot be defined at all, as I have already explained, with exactness for a moment of time, but at most for an instant.”
- “The mathematical framework of quantum theory has passed countless successful tests and is now universally accepted as a consistent and accurate description of all atomic phenomena.”
- “The present is the only thing that has no end.”
- “The mathematical framework of quantum theory has passed countless successful tests and is now universally accepted as a consistent and accurate description of all atomic phenomena.”
- “Science is always on the verge of transcending ordinary reality.”
- “All the many phenomena with which the naturalist has to deal are but different expressions of the same basic laws.”
- “The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.”
Theoretical Physics and Beyond
- “The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.”
- “I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is deficient. It gives a lot of factual information, puts all our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart.”
- “The picture of the external world that is formed by our senses and is formulated in our minds is, in my view, the only one we have.”
- “The only thing that matters is that one's own feelings, as they exist at the moment, are real and right—more real and right than any of the objects and events around one.”
- “The world is a construct of our sensations, perceptions, memories. It is convenient to regard it as existing objectively on its own.”
- “The present is the only thing that has no end.”
- “The quantum phenomenon demands a description in terms of two kinds of reality: waves and corpuscles.”
- “The only thing that matters is that one's own feelings, as they exist at the moment, are real and right—more real and right than any of the objects and events around one.”
- “What we observe as material bodies and forces are nothing but shapes and variations in the structure of space.”
- “The unity and continuity of Vedanta are reflected in the unity and continuity of wave mechanics.”
Erwin Schrödinger's revolutionary contributions to theoretical physics and quantum mechanics have left an indelible mark on the way we perceive the universe. His insightful quotes challenge us to question our understanding of reality, consciousness, and existence, inviting us to explore the deepest mysteries of the cosmos.
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