Magdalena Gronau, Martin Gronau: Transgressing Boundaries: Erwin Schrödinger and the Challenges of Scientific Biography

Lecture as part of the Mary Ann Mansigh Conversation Series at the Centre Européene de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire

Since late 2021, serious allegations, ranging from pedophilia to repeated sexual abuse, have been raised against the physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961), significantly damaging the public reputation of the Nobel laureate. In both media and academic debates, the question has repeatedly been raised as to whether these accusations are justified. The discussion has long been hampered by an uncertain evidentiary basis, as key sources have remained largely inaccessible. This situation is largely attributable to the publication of the biography Schrödinger: Life and Thought by Walter Moore (1989), which was already considered problematic at the time of its release.

Drawing on previously unexamined sources – including Schrödinger’s Ephemerides (diaries), letters from affected women, and documents from the biographer’s estate–this lecture reassesses the foundations of the controversy. It analyzes the emergence of the scandal surrounding Erwin Schrödinger and offers a new perspective on his complex private life that also takes into account the viewpoints of his female partners, whose voices have largely remained unheard.

The chemist and literary scholar Magdalena Gronau is a Volkswagen Foundation “Freigeist” Fellow. Together with the classical historian Martin Gronau she is working on the project The Philology of the Physicists. Textual Knowledge and Practices within the Academic Culture of Quantum Physics.