10/09/2026
to 100 years of quantum physics - A century ago over Christmas 1925, Erwin Schrödinger escaped to the Swiss Alps to crack the mathematical formula for wave mechanics, publishing his world-changing wave equation in 1926. That single equation unlocked our ability to map electrons, laying the foundation for the microchips in your smartphone, fibre-optic internet, and MRI machines.
In 1933, as Frederick Lindemann transformed Oxford’s Clarendon Laboratory into a sanctuary for brilliant minds fleeing N**i Germany, Schrödinger joined as a Fellow at Magdalen College. A "lone wolf" theorist amongst a stellar circle of low-temperature experimentalists like Franz Simon and Nicholas Kurti (you learned about him last Thursday), Schrödinger learned he had won the Nobel Prize while living on Northmoor Road (near Wolfson College) and coined quantum "entanglement" through written exchanges with Albert Einstein.
Today, as the University of Oxford marks 100 years of quantum mechanics, researchers are honouring Schrödinger’s legacy by pushing quantum boundaries from fundamental gravity tests to supercomputing. Schrödinger didn't just solve an abstract math puzzle - his work built the modern world, and today’s quantum research is laying the groundwork for unhackable communications and revolutionary medical discoveries, for which many of our colleagues in the department are working on a daily basis.
