Remarkable Dates and Place: One Hundred Years Ago

Abstract

Exactly a century ago, wave quantum mechanics was born in Arosa, Switzerland. Erwin Schrödinger was vacationing in this classic Swiss Alps town at Christmas 1925 when he made his breakthrough discovery of the wave equation \cite{SchrQMI}.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: The Villa Frisia of Dr. Herwig's sanatorium, Arosa (right), where it is believed wave mechanics was discovered during the Christmas holidays 1925--26 Moore1989.
• Figure 2: A postcard with the view of the Villa Frisia (right), where Schrödinger stayed, and the house of Dr. Otto Herwig (left).
• Figure 3: The time-dependent Schrödinger equation --- arcaded courtyard in the main building of the University of Vienna (left) and the churchyard cemetery of Alpbach village in Tirol (right), respectively.
• Figure 4: Erwin Schrödinger accepted an invitation to lecture at the University of Wisconsin--Madison in early 1927, leaving in December 1926 to give talks in January and February 1927 https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AHDIU5YGAIRZOW8N .
• Figure 5: The author at Villa Frisia on December 29, 2025 .