November 1, 1935: Erwin Schrödinger Kills a Cat (And Doesn't)

November 1, 1935: Erwin Schrödinger mocks his contemporaries. Only, he is taken seriously. Which is somewhat appropriate, given the nature of what he was trying to say.

The November 1935 issue of the German magazine Naturwissenschaften (The Science of Nature) published a paper that he wrote, titled "The Current Situation in Quantum Mechanics." He was questioning the concept of superposition, which is basically when a particle is in two places at once and only "chooses" where to be under duress of measurement.

In response, he developed the "Cat Paradox," which was supposed to illustrate what Schrödinger regarded as a flaw in the theory, in the most ridiculous way possible. He suggested that a hypothetical cat may be considered simultaneously both alive and dead, while it is unobserved in a closed box, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur.

Schrödinger may have meant it as a joke. But physicists have taken it seriously, as a challenge. They've gathered increasingly large groups of atoms in different places at the same time, simulated the experiment with something called "qubits" and "optical tweezers," and even built predictive models to save the cat. At last check, they have not yet crossed the line by trapping a real cat and gassing it.

Want to hear something stupid? For years, I thought "Schrödinger's Cat" was the one that walked through walls, doing so simply because it didn't know that it couldn't. As it turned out, I had confused Schrödinger's Cat with the title character in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, a 1985 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, and a tribute to Schrödinger's Cat. Whether Heinlein was aware of the novel's publication being close to the 50th Anniversary of Schrödinger's paper, or whether he cared that it was, only he knew.

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November 1, 1935 was a Friday. Born on this day were right-wing businessman Charles Koch, author Edward Said, and golfer Gary Player.

Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And the NHL season started 6 days later. But there were 3 college football games played:

* Wake Forest beat Presbyterian University, 18-0 at Gore Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

* Centenary College beat Loyola University, 9-0 at Loyola Stadium in New Orleans.

* And Mississippi (a.k.a. Ole Miss) beat Saint Louis University, 21-7 at Walsh Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

September 26, 1905: Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity

Yes, he was young once.

No, his hair never was under much control.

September 26, 1905: The German magazine Annalen der Physik (Annals of Physics) publishes a research paper by Albert Einstein, a 26-year-old German physicist living in Bern, the capital of Switzerland and part of the country's German section.

One of four "Annus Mirabilis" (Year of Miracles) papers of his that were published that year, it includes a fundamental new definition of space and time. It identifies 2 fundamental principles: The principle of relativity, and the principle of the constancy of light, which served as the axiomatic basis of his theory.

The speed of light is constant, at 299,792.458 meters, or 186,282 miles, per second. That doesn't change, no matter how fast the observer is traveling. Einstein, who never learned how to drive a car, but enjoyed riding a bicycle, used this example: Suppose it were possible to ride a bike that were capable of traveling at (let's round up) 30,000 meters per second, or about 1/10th of the speed of light. And suppose there were a headlight on the front of the bike. The light projected from that headlight wouldn't gain any speed due to the 30,000 MPS at which the bike was moving: It would still be traveling at 300,000 MPS, not 330,000.

But there was more. The paper also included the most famous equation in the history of science, which has become as identified with Einstein as the topic of genius or his later unruly white hair: E = mc². Here, "E" means the amount of energy contained in an object; "m" means the object's mass; and "c" means the speed of light. Therefore: The energy contained in an object equals the multiplication of the object's mass and the square of the speed of light.

This would seem like it would produce enormous amounts of energy. But since most objects don't have enough mass to contain much energy, this gives us little to worry about -- most of the time. Eventually, with prodding from physicists following up on his work, Einstein realized that, given enough mass, terrible weapons could be designed and built using his theory. And Einstein never wanted that.

He once said, "If my theory of general relativity should be proven correct, Germany will say that I am a German, and France will say that I am a citizen of the world. But if it should be proven incorrect, France will say that I am a German, and Germany will say that I am a Jew."

On May 29, 1919, Sir Arthur Eddington, a British astronomer, observed a solar eclipse on the island of Principe, off the west coast of Africa, and saw how stars near the Sun were displaced from their normal positions. He declared this to be proof of Einstein's theory. French astronomer Andrew Crommelin observed the same eclipse in Sobral, Ceará, Brazil, and also declared the theory to have been proven correct.

But not everyone agreed with Eddington, or Crommelin, or Einstein. One Hundred Authors Against Einstein was published in 1931. When asked to comment on this denunciation of relativity by so many scientists, Einstein replied that to defeat relativity, one did not need the word of 100 scientists, just one fact.

Annalen der Physik was founded in 1799, and published almost exclusively in the German language until the 20th Century, as German was then the world's leading language for scientists. It began publishing articles in English if they were written by non-Germans. It suspended operations during World War II, and when restarted in 1946, English became its more common language. In 1990, following the reunification of Germany, Annalen der Physik began publishing only in English. It is still published monthly today.

In a 2011 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, rapper-comedian Zach Sherwin made his debut in the series, as Einstein, against "Nice" Peter Shukoff, playing Stephen Hawking. His best line was, "I'm as dope as two rappers, so you'd better be scared, because that means Albert E. equals M-C, squared!" (MC meaning "Master of Ceremonies," or lead rapper.) The episode was so well-received that Sherwin became a regular guest star in it.

*

September 26, 1905 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Highlanders were swept in a doubleheader by the St. Louis Browns, at Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan. The Browns won the opener, 6-3 in 10 innings. Tom Jones (not related to the later Welsh singer) had 3 hits for the Browns.

The Browns won the nightcap, 7-2, in a game called due to darkness after 8 innings. For the Browns, future Hall-of-Famer Bobby Wallace and Ben Koehler hit home runs, while Jones had 3 more hits, and George Stone also had 3 hits.

For the Highlanders, who officially took on the informal nickname Yankees in 1913, feisty shortstop Norman Elberfeld, known as the "Tabasco Kid" for his hot temper, but usually just "Kid," had 2 hits, but the rest of the team combined only had 5 off winning pitcher Jim Buchanan, 1 by losing pitcher Louis LeRoy. Buchanan went 5-9 for the Browns that season, his only season in the major leagues.

Incidentally, while many players, most notably Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander, have been named after Presidents, Jim Buchanan, born James Forrest Buchanan, is 1 of only 5 players in Major League Baseball history to have the same first and last name of a President of the United States. Bert Adams, a catcher for the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies in the 1910s, was born John Bertram Adams. John Anthony "Johnny" Tyler was a left fielder who played for the Boston Braves in 1934 and '35.

There have been 2 John Kennedys to reach the majors. John Irvin Kennedy was the 1st black player for the Phillies, a shortstop who played only 5 games in the majors, all in 1957. And John Edward Kennedy debuted as an infielder for the Washington Senators, while JFK was President in Washington in 1962. He closed his career in 1974, with JFK's hometown team, the Boston Red Sox. There was also a James Azar "Jim" Carter who pitched in the Negro Leagues, for the 1948 Newark Eagles.

* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-5 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Pirates. Despite this, the Giants' Red Ames won his 21st game of the season, and Christy Mathewson picked up his 3rd save.

* The Brooklyn Superbas beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. Mal Eason had the highlight of a horrible season, pitching a 3-hit shutout for the team that would become the Dodgers in 1911. He finished 5-21 on the season.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Boston Americans at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston, 10-5 and 3-1, the 2nd game called due to darkness after 8 innings. In the opener, Doc White pitched to just 1 batter, allowing a hit, and had to leave the game due to an injury. Future Hall-of-Famer Ed Walsh pitched the rest of the way. Walsh then won the 2nd game. The Americans became the Boston Red Sox in 1908.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 6-4 in 10 innings at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. Ty Cobb, just 20 years old, went 0-for-4.

* A doubleheader was split at American League Park in Washington. The Cleveland Naps won the 1st game, 2-0. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 13-6. Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, the Cleveland team's best hitter, 2nd baseman, manager and namesake, did not play in either game. In the 1st game, Bob Rhoads pitched a 6-hit shutout. In the 2nd game, Charlie Hickman went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs for the Senators, and Joe Stanley went 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs. The Naps became the Cleveland Indians in 1915, and the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Boston Beaneaters, 13-1 at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. The Beaneaters became the Braves in 1912.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

August 2, 1939: The Einstein-Szilárd Letter

Einstein (left) and Szilárd, re-enacting their letter after The War

August 2, 1939: Albert Einstein mails a letter to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The great physicist wanted to warn the President of the United States about the danger of Nazi Germany becoming the 1st nation to develop an atomic bomb.

Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman reported the discovery of nuclear fission in uranium in the January 6, 1939 issue of the German magazine Die Naturwissenschaften. Danish physicist Niels Bohr brought the magazine to America, and showed it to a Hungarian refugee, physicist Leó Szilárd.

Szilárd and the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi built a nuclear reactor at Columbia University in New York, conducted a series of experiments, and concluded that a chain reaction in natural uranium could be possible if they could find a suitable neutron moderator.

They found that the hydrogen atoms in water slowed neutrons, but tended to capture them. Szilárd then suggested using carbon as a moderator. They then needed large quantities of carbon and uranium to create a reactor. Szilárd was convinced that they would succeed if they could get the materials.

But he was concerned that German scientists might also attempt this experiment. On July 12, Szilárd and fellow Hungarian physicist Eugene Wigner drove to Cutchogue, Long Island, New York, where Einstein was staying. They told Einstein of the possibility of atomic bombs. Einstein, whose famous 

equation "," meaning "Energy equals matter multiplied by the square of the speed of light," made such a bomb possible, said, "I did not even think about that!"

First, Szilárd dictated to Wigner, in German, a letter which Einstein signed. It was addressed to the Belgian Ambassador to the United States, warning them that the vast uranium fields in Belgium's colony in the Congo were in danger of being appropriated by the Nazis, and why that must be avoided at all costs.

Now, they needed support from the federal government for uranium research, so they could beat the Nazis to it. On August 2, Szilárd and yet another Hungarian physicist, Edward Teller, drove out to Long Island, and met with Einstein. For this letter to President Roosevelt, Einstein dictated in German, and Szilárd took it back to Columbia, and dictated it in English to stenographer Janet Coatesworth.

Coatesworth heard what Szilárd was suggesting, and later told an interviewer, "I thought I was working for a nut." Concluding the words with "Yours truly, Albert Einstein" didn't change her mind. Einstein later signed this letter.

Einstein told FDR:

In the course of the last four months it has been made probable – through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America – that it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.

This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable – though much less certain – that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove to be too heavy for transportation by air...

I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsäcker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut in Berlin where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated."

Carl von Weizsäcker was just 27 years old, compared to Einstein and Hahn, both 60; Bohr, 43; Szilárd, 41; Strassman, Fermi and Wigner, all 37; and Teller, 31. In a 1999 interview, von Weizsäcker said he had told his superior about the possibility of an atomic bomb in 1939, and asked that superior if he should tell Chancellor Adolf Hitler. He recalled that the superior said, "Please, don't. If you do, he will want it done in 6 months. And, when it is not done in 6 months, he will want to know why."

Szilárd sent the letter to Einstein, who signed it, and sent it back. Szilárd received it on August 9. On August 15, he gave it to Alexander Sachs, an economist who knew FDR. Before he could get in to see him, the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1.

He finally got an appointment on October 11, and FDR -- said by the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. to have had "a second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament" -- understood quickly: "Alex, what you are after is to see that the Nazis don't blow us up."

FDR's response, dated October 19, thanked Einstein, saying, "I found this data of such import that I have convened a Board consisting of the head of the Bureau of Standards and a chosen representative of the Army and Navy to thoroughly investigate the possibilities of your suggestion regarding the element of uranium."

One thing led to another, and, in June 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started the Manhattan Project. Due to the Allied bombings of German facilities, the Nazis never came close to developing an atomic bomb. FDR died on April 12, 1945, with the project not yet finished. With the Soviet Union closing in on April 30, Hitler killed himself. The Nazis surrendered on May 8.

On July 16, the 1st atomic bomb was successfully tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico. On August 6, the new President, Harry S Truman, ordered the dropping of the 1st available atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, he ordered another, dropped on Nagasaki. On August 14, Japan surrendered. In 1995, on the 50th Anniversary of the event, a surviving Japanese physicist admitted that his country was also working on it, and that, if they had built it, they wouldn't have hesitated to use it.

In 1947, Einstein told Newsweek magazine, "Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing."

Fermi died in 1954, Einstein in 1955, Bohr in 1962, Szilárd in 1964, Hahn in 1968, Strassman in 1980, Janet Coatesworth in 1986, Teller (who developed the 1st hydrogen bomb) in 2003, and von Weizsäcker lived until 2007.

There are those who say that the Soviet Union was a more evil regime than Nazi Germany. The Soviets had the bomb for 42 years before their regime collapsed, and they never used it. If Hitler had the bomb, would he have hesitated to use it on Moscow? On London? If he could have loaded one onto a plane aboard their only aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin, and sent a bomb to New York or Washington, would he have ordered it? It was Hitler. Of course he would have.

But he never got close. Partly because the Allies took action, and partly because Hitler chased his own best scientists into the arms of the Allies.

*

August 2, 1939 was a Wednesday. This was the day the Hatch Act became law, and the day that the Gary Cooper version of Beau Geste was released to theaters. I have separate entries for those events. And horror film director Wes Craven was born on this day.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Bill Dickey hit a home run, but Atley Donald did not have good stuff.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Joe Bowman pitched a 5-hit shutout.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 12-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Mel Ott went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* A doubleheader was split at Fenway Park in Boston. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 8-2. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 5-4. Red Sox rookie sensation Ted Williams went 0-for-6, although he did draw 2 walks.

* A doubleheader was split at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Athletics won the 1st game, 13-4. The Chicago White Sox won the 2nd game, 2-1.

* The Washington Senators beat the St. Louis Browns, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals were supposed to play the Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1940) at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, but were rained out. It was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Cards swept, 5-1 and 4-3.

* And the Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but were rained out. It was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader on September 14. The Cubs swept, 13-1 and 5-2.