Famous Austrians XIV: Erwin Schrödinger

Erwin Schrödinger is generally considered the father of quantum mechanics, and the man behind the famous "Schrödinger's cat" theory in quantum physics.

Born in Vienna in 1887, Schrödinger was a gifted mathematics student and devoured the works of Schopnehauer. He earned his doctorate in 1914 (receiving the highest honors possible) and later that year worked as a commissioned officer in World War I. After the war, he had several professorships at leading European universities before winding up at the University of Zurich.

In 1935, he worked on his Schrödinger's cat experiment with Einstein, and won the Nobel prize. Due to an unorthodox lifestyle (living with his wife and mistress and expecting the university to fund what no doubt had been labeled as - at the least - licentious), he found it easy to find - yet difficult to keep - a professorial position. He accepted visiting positions, from Berlin to Graz to Oxford.

Because of his known anti-Nazi position, after the Anschluss in 1939, he could no longer life and work in Germany (Austria) and found himself in Dublin at the Institute for Advanced Studies.

For those of you unfamiliar with the quantum theory of physics, it is fascinating, though a little freaky. Basically, everything you know about physics can be thrown out the window when applying quantum theory because there are more than the three dimensions we know exists. Scientists are unsure of the number of dimensions that do exist, but current estimates are up to eleven - ELEVEN! That's so awesome, it's almost hard to believe!

Because of Schrödinger, much of the current research done in the quantum realm is in Vienna, though there is also plenty of research being done throughout the rest of the world, including in Paris and many parts of the United States. For more information, PBS has a good explanation - plus, the related (but different) string theory.

Famous Austrians XII: Rainer Maria Rilke

Rilke was born in Prague in 1875 (while it was still part of Austria-Hungary) and grew up there with an unsuccessful father and a terribly unhappy mother who, mourning the death of Rilke's baby sister, dressed him in girl's clothing as a child, the start of his depressive, repressive and Freudian outlook on life.

In fact, in 1897, he met and fell in love with Lou Andreas-Salome, who had studied psychoanalysis with Freud, and the two of them shared an intellectual bond and traveled together extensively, most importantly to Russia in 1899, where Rilke met Leo Tolstoy. Unfortunately, Lou was already married, so Rilke had to settle for Clara Westhoff, a sculptor he met on an artist's retreat in 1900.

In 1902, he moved to Paris to work with Rodin, and ended up meeting Cezanne, continuing to work with both artists. He was quite prolific in Paris, writing in French as well as German, and stayed there until 1910 when he decided to travel again, to Spain, Trieste, and then to Germany. in 1914, World War I broke out and Rilke was stuck. He lived in Munich until he was called up in 1916 and attended basic training in Vienna. He used his connections in high places to skip out later that year.

Rilke moved to Switzerland in 1919 and finished his lyrical poems. He fell ill in 1923, and was diagnosed with leukemia shortly before his death in 1926. For some reason, roses and mythology have often played large parts in Rilke's work.

Here (in German) and here (in English) you can read the Dunio Elegien, one of his most famous works.

Famous Austrians VIII: Oskar Kokoschka

Woman with Parrot

The Expressionist painter and playwright Oskar Kokoschka was born in Pöchlarn, Lower Austria, in 1886 and is known outside Austria mostly for his portraits and landscapes, and sometimes for his affair with composer Gustav Mahler's wife Alma.


Kokoschka's family moved to Vienna when he was a boy, and while in school, he began to paint, developing an interest in the works of Van Gogh. He also emulated the Jugendstil (art nouveau) styles. He served in the Austrian army during World War I and wounded by a bayonette stuck into his lung while on the Ukranian front. In the hospital, doctors decided he was mentally unstable. When he was dismissed from the army in 1916, he traveled around Europe to continue painting, landing in Dresden in 1917. 

Dresden Neustadt

In 1931 he came back to Vienna, only to move to Prague in 1934 to escape the Nazis (he was considered a degenerate artist, an entartete Künstler by the regime). In 1938, when Hitler came to the Czech Republic, Kokoschka moved to London, where he was an active member of Young Austria, a group of exiled Austrians living in England and waiting out the the end of World War II. 


After the war, Kokoschka made it to Switzerland, where he lived out the rest of his life. The Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna (close to my apartment, actually!) has a permanent exhibit of his work.

Although he's oft-copied in Vienna (not as much as Klimt, dear God), I really enjoy Kokoschka's paintings for their bright colors and quasi-dreamscapes. Similar to my feelings about the Blaue Reiter, I think I will have to snag Franz Marc's comment about art being a continuation of our dreams. Just paraphrasing.