Schrödinger’s cat turns 87 this November: the beginning of the scientific popularity of cats

In the 87 years since Erwin Schrödinger first outlined a quantum mechanical thought experiment with a cat, felines have only grown in popularity. If you like the series called Big Bang Theory, then the term Schrödinger's cat will certainly not sound unfamiliar. You already know us very well, we are passionate about everything that is cat, and we will always have a place in the corner of our little hearts for science and history. Let's celebrate Erwin's special kitty together this year!

We place a cat in a box. Next to the kitty, there is also a small vial of poisonous gas in the box. This gas has a 50% chance of killing the cat, so it also has a 50% chance of not killing it. The trick is that we don’t know the state of the cat until we open the box and see it with our own eyes. This is the basic story of Schrödinger’s cat, Erwin Schrödinger’s deservedly famous thought experiment. But what does this mean for science and cats?

True geniuses are never recognised by their age

The uncertainty of the cat’s state—alive or dead—means that it exists in a simultaneous superposition of dead and alive. Or at least it would be if it were a particle. Schrödinger originally wrote about the cat to make it clear to even an ordinary person how strange and fascinating quantum physics can be. In the thought experiment, the state of the cat is tied to the state of a radioactive gas. Since the release of the gas is random, it is not possible to predict when the “collapse” – as quantum mechanics puts it – will happen in the case of individual atoms.

Almost everyone has heard of Schrödinger’s cat; if not from the previously mentioned series, but in the age of internet cat videos, it is an almost unavoidable concept. Schrödinger would probably note his own popularity with a pretty surprised face. It’s a sad story, but just like Vincent Van Gogh or Franz Kafka, his genius was not met with frenzied success in his own time either. From 1935, when the idea appeared, until 1961, when Erwin died, hardly anyone wrote about this feline’s life hanging by a thread. Even his original appearance was the size of a rabbit’s tail. But like all good cats, he finally reached his goal and got the attention he so well deserved.

The following video in English shows the thought experiment:

Claimants to the throne are coming, but the sharp claws are impossible to defeat

Although our purring little friends usually prefer to keep the secret of their genius to themselves, Schrödinger’s cat was a little more talkative than average, as his own recognition was at stake. The first time this particular room tiger emerged beyond debate among physicists was when the philosopher Hilary Putnam wrote a book on quantum mechanics in 1965. She talked about the strangeness of Schrödinger’s cat in her review for Scientific American. The science fiction writers immediately took the unpopular and lonely feline under their wings.

However, some physicists have already moved on. The superposition of different states is discussed using a framework called decoherence, where there is no need for the “collapse” that causes confusion around dead and alive cat. Very nice… But this blooded cat does not give up its hard-won position so easily. So far, the attempts don’t seem to stand a chance against the popularity of Schrödinger’s cat. In pop culture, this cat has nowhere near a 50% chance of survival. Among us, this cat is very much alive, more alive than ever!