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![SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT. SCHRÖDINGER, ERWIN. 1887-1961. "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik" [The present situation in quantum mechanics]. In: Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 23, issues 48 (November 29), 49 (December 6), & 50 (December 13), 1935, pp. 807-12; 823-28; 844-49. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1935. image 1](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg2.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%2Flive%2F2014-05%2F05%2F8941277-4-4.jpg&w=2400&q=75)
![SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT. SCHRÖDINGER, ERWIN. 1887-1961. "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik" [The present situation in quantum mechanics]. In: Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 23, issues 48 (November 29), 49 (December 6), & 50 (December 13), 1935, pp. 807-12; 823-28; 844-49. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1935. image 2](/_next/image.jpg?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg2.bonhams.com%2Fimage%3Fsrc%3DImages%2Flive%2F2014-04%2F23%2F8941277-4-1.jpg&w=2400&q=75)
Lot 142
SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT. SCHRÖDINGER, ERWIN. 1887-1961. "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik" [The present situation in quantum mechanics]. In: Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 23, issues 48 (November 29), 49 (December 6), & 50 (December 13), 1935, pp. 807-12; 823-28; 844-49. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1935.
4 June 2014, 13:00 EDT
New YorkUS$2,000 - US$3,000
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SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT.
SCHRÖDINGER, ERWIN. 1887-1961. "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik" [The present situation in quantum mechanics]. In: Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 23, issues 48 (November 29), 49 (December 6), & 50 (December 13), 1935, pp. 807-12; 823-28; 844-49. Berlin: Julius Springer, 1935.
8vo. Whole volume: xix, [1], 870, 12 pp. Quarter pebbled cloth and blue boards, hand lettered paper spine label. Corners and foot of spine slightly rubbed.
Provenance: Cancelled library stamps to general title and first leaves of some numbers; Jeremy Norman.
FIRST EDITION, JOURNAL ISSUE OF SCHRÖDINGER'S PAPER CONTAINING THE FAMOUS THOUGHT EXPERIMENT NOW KNOWN AS "SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT," illustrating a fundamental problem in the "Copenhagen interpretation" of quantum mechanics put forth by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. In this interpretation, a quantum superposition—the combination of all possible states of a system, such as the possible positions of a subatomic particle—collapses into a definite state only at the exact moment of quantum measurement; prior to measurement, all states exist within a certain range of probability. Einstein had published a rebuttal to the Copenhagen interpretation in his famous "EPR" paper of 1935, in which he argued that the quantum-mechanical description of physical reality, as it stood, was incomplete. Inspired by Einstein's line of reasoning, Schrödinger continued the discussion in his "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik," pointing out the absurdity of applying quantum mechanics to visible and tangible objects. In the fifth section of his paper (p 812), he set forth the "quite burlesque" case of a cat "penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical apparatus (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts" (Schrödinger, "The present situation in quantum mechanics," translated by John D. Trimmer [Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 124 (1980): 323-38]). This conclusion sets forth what has been called the principle of state distinction: "states of a macroscopic system which could be told apart by a macroscopic observation are distinct from each other whether observed or not" (Moore, p 308). Schrödinger's paper represents "his definitive statement about the theory that he and Heisenberg had discovered" ( Moore Schrödinger: Life and Thought pp 306-9).
8vo. Whole volume: xix, [1], 870, 12 pp. Quarter pebbled cloth and blue boards, hand lettered paper spine label. Corners and foot of spine slightly rubbed.
Provenance: Cancelled library stamps to general title and first leaves of some numbers; Jeremy Norman.
FIRST EDITION, JOURNAL ISSUE OF SCHRÖDINGER'S PAPER CONTAINING THE FAMOUS THOUGHT EXPERIMENT NOW KNOWN AS "SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT," illustrating a fundamental problem in the "Copenhagen interpretation" of quantum mechanics put forth by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. In this interpretation, a quantum superposition—the combination of all possible states of a system, such as the possible positions of a subatomic particle—collapses into a definite state only at the exact moment of quantum measurement; prior to measurement, all states exist within a certain range of probability. Einstein had published a rebuttal to the Copenhagen interpretation in his famous "EPR" paper of 1935, in which he argued that the quantum-mechanical description of physical reality, as it stood, was incomplete. Inspired by Einstein's line of reasoning, Schrödinger continued the discussion in his "Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik," pointing out the absurdity of applying quantum mechanics to visible and tangible objects. In the fifth section of his paper (p 812), he set forth the "quite burlesque" case of a cat "penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical apparatus (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts" (Schrödinger, "The present situation in quantum mechanics," translated by John D. Trimmer [Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 124 (1980): 323-38]). This conclusion sets forth what has been called the principle of state distinction: "states of a macroscopic system which could be told apart by a macroscopic observation are distinct from each other whether observed or not" (Moore, p 308). Schrödinger's paper represents "his definitive statement about the theory that he and Heisenberg had discovered" ( Moore Schrödinger: Life and Thought pp 306-9).