= Erwin Schrödinger
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{title2=1887-1961}
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A <physicist> who developed <wave mechanics>. In 1926, <Erwin Schrödinger> made the energies of <chemical atoms> an <eigenvalue> problem, rather than prescribing a separate quantization rule for each classical <orbit>. He shared the <Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933> with <Paul Dirac>.<Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922–1941/Erwin Schrödinger - Biographical>[Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922–1941; Zurich period and 1926 wave-equation work; joint 1933 award; birth and death dates]{ref}
The <Schrödinger equation> turns a proposed <Hamiltonian operator> into predictions for a <wavefunction> and its evolution. <Boundary conditions> can select discrete <energy eigenvalues>, while <quantum superposition> makes their relative <quantum phases> observable through <interference>. The <infinite square well> gives a transparent worked example; a <hydrogen atom> supplies a physical application with a different <potential energy>.
The <Davisson–Germer experiment> gives a complementary experimental route into <matter waves>: an accelerated <Electron> beam scattered from a <nickel> crystal produces direction-dependent collected <electric current>. Its apparatus and angular scans make the wave prediction testable. Interpreting a <wavefunction> as a <probability amplitude> also requires the <Born rule>; that statistical interpretation deserves its own history alongside <Erwin Schrödinger>'s dynamics.
\Image[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Erwin_Schrödinger_(1933).jpg]
{title=Erwin Schrödinger in 1933, Nobel Foundation portrait via Wikimedia Commons}
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