When Schrodinger wrote the paper he was living in a house on Northmoor Road, Oxford. This was the same house where Schrodinger learned he had been awarded the Nobel Prize.
I recently learned some fascinating historical trivia.
Schrodinger was a neighbour of J.R.R. Tolkien, who during that time was finishing up work on The Hobbit.
It would be nice to see this landmark honoured, such as the one on Tolkien's house. However, it seems Schrodinger's house does not meet the criteria of Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board, because he lived there for three years, less than the required minimum of five years.
Another option would be a plaque of the Institute of Physics, such as this one.
I am happy that someone else has noticed that Schrödinger was neighbors with Tolkien in Oxford at this moment in history. And it is a very intriguing fact that Schrödinger came up with his most evocative and creative metaphor--the cat--at exactly the same time as he happened to live next-next-door to one of the most creative human beings in Oxford--who was almost surely the only other man in town at that moment who had both (i) a genius intellect, comparable to Schrödinger's own, and (ii) a solid working command of German, Schrödinger's native tongue.
ReplyDeleteSchrödinger won the Nobel Prize just weeks after arriving at Oxford in his flight from pre-WWII Germany. Tolkien was a professor at Oxford and the school must have been abuzz--if not aflame--with the Nobel news, so unless Schrödinger's presence was for some reason (and no such reason appears) kept so secret by the authorities that Tolkien did not learn of his proximity, the idea that these two famous nextdoor-neighbor German-speaking geniuses never met, let alone never had rewarding conversations, seems almost absurd. Personally, I think extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and it would be truly extraordinary if the two never met and interacted.
Yet no one seems able to unearth any evidence that they ever--or, to be fair, that they never--did. And if they did, why isn't it known?
Would there have been any reason for either of them to keep it on the down-low? The answer is yes. Schrödinger was a randy ladies' man with an open marriage, highly unusual for a major physicist. Tolkien, a devout Catholic, would have heartily disapproved of this, and it is plausible, to say the least, that this was sufficient reason for him to not want to be publicly connected with Schrödinger. And since Tolkien's studies were far afield from physics, there was no career-related reason for him not to stay quiet.
In addition, there are also the rumors that Tolkien was clandestinely in the employ of British intelligence (perhaps in codemaking?), and that his public decision not to enter such employment, after being recorded as expressing great interest in it, was a sham; if so, he could plausibly have even been one of the people asked to mind Schrödinger and determine his loyalties, and this would be another reason not to publicize their connection if it existed. But I don't think there is any need to credit this speculation here. There was already ample reason for Tolkien to stay quiet about whether he ever spoke to Schrödinger.