Waves on the Isis: Albert Einstein and Erwin Schrödinger in Oxford

Abstract Albert Einstein stayed in Oxford for three relatively brief periods in 1931, 1932 and 1933 at the invitation of the physicist Frederick Lindemann, who was also responsible for inviting Erwin Schrödinger to stay for a much longer period in 1933-36. While there, Einstein gave a controversial lecture, “ On the Method of Theoretical Physics ”, stressing the importance of mathematics over experiment, which is still much discussed; and Schrödinger published a key physics paper in German introducing ‘entanglement’ and his highly influential cat ‘paradox’. This paper explores the two men’s radically different reactions to the University and the city, ranging from Oxford’s science to its political and cultural life—which often pleased Einstein, who lived in college, but generally displeased Schrödinger, who refused to live in college—thereby creating markedly different waves on the River Isis.