The Genius of Erwin Schrodinger

Erwin Schrodinger was an Austrian physicist in the early twentieth century who was part of the group of men who built the modern theory of quantum mechanics. Physics at the beginning of the twentieth century was changing. In the year 1905, Albert Einstein described (and received a nobel prize for) the photoelectric effect, which proposed light to behave as a particle called a photon. Proposing that light, previously only considered to be a wave, could behave as a particle, was a radical, new notion to the physics world. Later, in the year 1924, Louis de Broglie said that not only does light exist as a particle, but all particles can exist as a wave! Going further, he weaved his theory and Einstein’s together, saying that all waves and particles can behave as each other simultaneously. Therefore, according to de Broglie, mass-containing particles like electrons can behave as a wave with a measurable wavelength, and light can behave as a particle with the usual particle observables like momentum and energy. 

Now in the year 1926, Erwin Schrodinger developed an equation called the Schrodinger Equation. The Schrodinger Equation describes the evolution of a quantity called the wave function in space and time. Solving the Schrodinger Equation gives the wave function, and from it one can calculate the position, momentum, energy, and other observables (or rather, the probability of these quantities up to a certain limit). In other words, the Schrodinger Equation, when solved, gives you a mathematical function (the wave function) that, from there, allows you to solve for real, physical properties. All of quantum mechanics stems from the Schrodinger Equation. Schrodinger, using some principles of classical physics, calculus, and linear algebra, came up with this mathematical construct called the wave function. Then, he accurately derived an equation (the Schrodinger Equation) that would allow one to solve for the wave function. Finally, in collaboration with other physicists, there was birthed the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics: that by using the wave function, one can calculate real quantities like positions and momentum of a particle. What is most remarkable about the Schrodinger Equation is that it can be applied to real systems, like atoms. Solutions to the Schrodinger Equation tell scientists the shape of the electron cloud orbiting the nucleus, and it can even tell the exact distance in meters the electrons are from the nucleus. 

The creativity of Schrodinger is seen in his ability to build an equation from abstract, fundamental principles that is able to describe real systems. His genius lies in how he could understand physical and mathematical concepts so fundamentally and thoroughly, that it is almost like he could manipulate reality according to an equation. His curiosity and understanding is what drove him to produce an equation that could explain quantum phenomena. In The Code Breaker, the curiosity-driven exploration of Jennifer Doudna led to the discovery of gene-editing by CRISPR. Originally, she was interested in how bacteria used CRISPR as a defense against viruses, but taking the time to understand the process on a fundamental level led to the idea of using CRISPR for gene-editing. Doudna was able to push the boundaries of discovery, keeping an opened-mind, when discovering gene-editing by CRISPR. Both of these figures allowed their curiosity and understanding of the fundamentals to drive them to discover new possibilities. 

Schrodinger himself was actually very interested in DNA. In his book, “What is Life?”, Schrodinger describes the existence of a molecule that exists inside living organisms that carries the code for genetic expression. James Watson and Francis Crick, both in their respective autobiographies, talk about how they were inspired by Schrodinger to look for such a molecule, which is what led them to discover DNA. Obviously, without Watson and Crick’s discovery, there might not have been anything for Doudna to study, or she might not have ended up where she was. This is another interesting connection between Schrodinger and Doudna, both being driven by curiosity of the natural world.