12th of August is Erwin Schrödinger’s birthday…. Although he has been one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics (of the cat fame) and has contributed deeply to the subject matter, in recent years, he has become (in)famous for his non-academic life. For sure, he had a controversial personal life and has been deservedly criticized for that.
Only recently, there has been some new archival information (see this) that throws more light on this and gives some benefit of the doubt.
An important lesson: Great science alone does not guarantee good human qualities in a scientist.
ps:
To paraphrase and expand on something I wrote recently –
We continue to celebrate science by a person because science is not only of that person, but of humanity….
A person learns from others, transforms it and passes it on.
The human mind is both a conduit and a seed of an idea. Lest we forget the soil, sunshine, water and air.
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