Schrodinger In Oxford

by David C. Clary

'Clary's account makes for fascinating reading, not least because of its clear style and copious citation of primary sources and original scientific articles. The author provides a compelling narrative of … Schrödinger's departure in 1933 from a highly eminent position at the University of Berlin to a precarious, untenured position at Magdalen College … with political and scientific considerations deftly woven together.' [Read Full Review]ScienceErwin Schrödinger was one of the greatest scientists of all time but it is not widely known that he was a Fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford in the 1930s. This book is an authoritative account of Schrödinger's time in Oxford by Sir David Clary, an expert on quantum chemistry and a former President of Magdalen College, who describes Schrödinger's remarkable life and scientific contributions in a language that can be understood by all. Through access to many unpublished manuscripts, the author reveals in unprecedented detail the events leading up to Schrödinger's sudden departure from Berlin in 1933, his arrival in Oxford and award of the Nobel Prize, his dramatic escape from the Nazis in Austria to return to Oxford, and his urgent flight from Belgium to Dublin at the start of the Second World War.The book presents many acute observations from Schrödinger's wife Anny and his daughter Ruth, who was born in Oxford and became an acquaintance of the author in the last years of her life. It also includes a remarkable letter sent to Schrödinger in Oxford from Adolf Hitler, thanking him for his services to the state as a professor in Berlin. Schrödinger's intense interactions with other great scientists who were also refugees during this period, including Albert Einstein and Max Born, are examined in the context of the chaotic political atmosphere of the time. Fascinating anecdotes of how this flamboyant Austrian scientist interacted with the President and Fellows of a highly traditional Oxford College in the 1930s are a novel feature of the book.A gripping and intimate narrative of one of the most colourful scientists in history, Schrödinger in Oxford explains how his revolutionary breakthrough in quantum mechanics has become such a central feature in 21st century science.

501 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 7, 2022

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 3 out of 5]

There have been a number of biographies ofAustrian quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger, but here the focus is on the handful of years that Schrödinger was a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. There is an introductory section beforehand, plus a chapter on his move to what would become his permanent home of Dublin and one on his legacy - but it is Schrödinger's time in Oxford that is at the heart of this book: unsettling years both in world affairs leading up to the Second World War and in physics as classical ideas were turned on their head. David Clary, a chemistry professor and former president of Magdalen College is perhaps the ideal person to cover this topic.

Don't expect lots of details on quantum physics - this is very much a biography, rather than a science book with biographical sprinklings. However, what you will find is a level of detail that simply can't be found elsewhere, some of it delightful. So, as a random example, we are told according to Magdalen College tradition, after the 1933 formal dinner welcoming Schrödinger as a Fellow, he was weighed on college scales in the Senior Common Room, coming in at 10 stone 9 pounds. Apparently such weighing takes place 'on special occasions or when the Fellows are feeling especially happy, perhaps after some fine wine at dinner from the voluminous College cellar.' Schrödinger re-occurs in the weighing book in 1934, 1938 and 1948 - we are told that 'his weight hardly changed over this 15-year period'.

Clary goes on to describe other entrants in the book from T. E. Lawrence of Arabia and J. R. R. Tolkien to Harold Wilson and Dorothy Hodgkin. Throughout, there are engaging quotes and small details like this that bring alive Schrödinger's life during the period. Clary is strong on the academic aspects of Schrödinger's time in Oxford - which was arguably both positive and frustrating. Clary quotes Schrödinger's wife Anny, for example as saying 'they gave him a high salary, but he had no duties whatsoever... The scientific centre was Cambridge, of course, and not Oxford.' Although Clary gives reasonable coverage of Schrödinger's life outside work, he plays down the scientist's relationship with Hilde March, which would become more open when she moved in with Schrödinger and his wife on their move to Ireland. Although elsewhere it has been suggested that part of Schrödinger's difficulty in fitting in at Oxford was his unconventional relationship, Clary tells us it was not an issue that was significantly discussed in the college (pointing out that this implies it wasn't given much weight, as gossip is not exactly uncommon at high table).

In the end, whether or not this book will interest you depends on how much you want to get into the minutiae of academic life Schrödinger experienced during this period. As such, it would be a great research book for anyone writing a wider popular science title, or who has interest in what went on at Magdalen College back then. It is also worth saying that Clary's writing style is more readable than it is fussy and academic. However, this degree of detail, with many lengthy quotes from letters and documents, is not what you would call reading for entertainment. An interesting oddity.

[Tim Crowe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Schrödinger in Oxford by David C. Clary really isn't much about Erwin Schrödinger in Oxford and feels more like an advert for Magdalen College, Oxford, than it is about the really quite unpleasant theoretical physicist.

This book is a biography of theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger which follows his career in its entirety from his time in Zurich, where he developed his fundamentally important quantum mechanical wave function, to Berlin, spent basking in the glory of this discovery, to his brief years in Oxford, where he happened to win the Nobel prize just hours after being made a Fellow, to his return to, and flight from, Graz in Austria to his long stay in Dublin.

My main problem with this book is that it is essentially false advertising. Schrödinger really didn't spend very long in Oxford and just by chance was awarded the Nobel prize while there for work he completed 7 years prior in Zurich. His time in Oxford is spread over two of the six chapters of the book. The first concerns the Nobel prize where most of the chapter is spent quoting verbatim congratulation letters from a bunch of big names in physics and chemistry, and rounded out with the Nobel ceremony... in Stockholm, not Oxford. The following chapter is supposedly about Schrödinger's life in Oxford but mainly covers his many visits to other countries like the USA and Spain and contains several sub-chapters about other people, namely Albert Einstein, Fritz London, and Adolf Hitler. The chapter is then rounded off by his tone deaf return to Austria. The book spends only a short time on Schrödinger's work while at Oxford which, to be fair, includes the famous Schrödinger's Cat paper and other important works on entanglement. However, this is overshadowed by the author's constant raving about Magdalen College's many quirky traditions and his over-fascination with the Nobel prize. For context, Clary is the former President of Magdalen College.

Personally, this book essentially represents my issues with the scientific community and academia in general. The fixation on tired traditions and prizes that, almost by design, leave many academics unrecognised make academia bloated and bureaucratic and is ultimately the reason for many people leaving for industry jobs.

In many ways, this book would have been greatly improved for me if it was centred on the effects on science before, during, and after the Second World War since it is already 70% there.

On top of this, Clary neglects to cover any details on Schrödinger's many sexual abuses throughout his life bar in the final chapter to excuse himself from writing about it. This is also another of those biographies written by a passionate admirer with vested interests in portraying their subject in a positive light, so Schrödinger's many truly awful qualities (serial sexual abuse, arrogance, and general spinelessness) are ignored, pushed to the periphery, or re-interpreted with a hugely biased spin in favour of the subject and/or author.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this book. I thought it was boring and was personally hoping for a more in-depth look at the physics rather than an unskippable (very skippable, actually, I didn't need to finish the book) Magdalen College ad and a list of achievements of Schrödinger and his contemporaries.