Erwin Schrodinger

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Erwin Schrodinger

• Educated scientist

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Early Life

• Born in Vienna, Austria, August 12, 1887.
• He learned English and German at home.
• Received a private tutor at age 10.
• He went to a senior secondary school in Germany.
• He graduated from University of Vienna, with his
  doctorate.

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Interesting Facts

• He married Anny Bertel on March 24, 1920.
• The couple was engaged in 1919, but Erwin didnt
  feel that he could support Anny with his current
  yearly salary.
• He won the Noble Prize in physics in 1933.
• In Austria, the Erwin Schrodinger Institute for
  Mathematical Physics is named in his honor.

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Major Contributions

• In 1926, he derived a set of equations or wave
  functions for electrons.
• His theory stated that all the possible locations
  that an electron can occupy can be represented by
  a wave equation.
• He said that one could only predict the
  probability of where an electron could be, not
  its exact location.

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Major Contributions Cont.

• The distribution of these probabilities forms a
  region of space around the nucleus that he called
  orbitals.
• Orbitals can be described as electron density
  clouds.
• The densest part of an electron density cloud is
  the area with the greatest probability of finding
  an electron.

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Wave Functions of Each Electron

• The wave functions of each electron can be
  described as three quantum numbers
• Principal number (n)-describes the energy level
• Altazimuth number (l)-how fast the electron moves
  in its orbit this is related to the shape of the
  orbital
• Magnetic (m)-its orientation in space

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Electron Cloud ModelThe bright spots indicate
where electrons are likely to be found
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Summary

• Erwin Schrödinger

In 1926, he said that one could only predict the
probability of where an electron could be, not
its exact location.