The Schrödinger Lecture Series

(supported by the Austrian Embassy and the National Bank of Austria)

This annual event, inaugurated in 1995, commemorates the famous lecture series entitled "What is Life?" given by Erwin Schrödinger in Trinity College Dublin in 1943. Titles and, where possible, the text of past lectures are published here.

Monday November 28th 2011

• Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kautek
• Department of Physical Chemistry
• Univeristy of Vienna
• 'The Move into the Nano World by Femtosecond Pulse Lasers'

Thursday November 4th 2010

• Prof Renee Schroeder
• Max F. Perutz Laboratories
• Department of Biochemistry
• Univeristy of Vienna
• 'The Origin of Life and the RNA World' (.pdf, 3.29MB)

Thursday November 19th 2009

• Dr. Markus Arnd
• Department of Physics
• University of Vienna
• 'What is Intriguing in Quantum Physics?'

Wednesday October 15th 2008

• Prof Markus Hengstschlager
• Department of Medical Genetics
• Medical University of Vienna
• 'Human amniotic fluid as a new source for stem cell research'

Wednesday December 5th 2007

• Prof Jörg Schmiedmayer
• Vienna Institute of Technology
• Atomic Institute of the Austrian Universities
• 'Atom Chips: Integrated Circuits for Matter Waves' (pdf file, 5MB)

Thursday December 7th 2006

• Prof Jakob Yngvason,
• Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Vienna
• 'On the Second Law of Classical Thermodynamics' (pdf file, 3.2 MB)

Thursday May 19th 2005

• Professor Carl Djerassi, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
• Stanford University, California
• 'Sex and Reproduction: Ready for Divorce?'

Thursday October 28th 2004

• Professor Peter Oefner, Stanford Genome Technology Center,
• Stanford University, California
• 'Deciphering the history and function of genes: insights in human evolution and disease'

Thursday November 6th 2003

• Prof. Johann Mulzer, Institute for Organic Chemistry,
• University of Vienna
• 'How organic chemistry plays a key role in drug discovery and development' (A powerpoint file.)

Thursday November 7th 2002

• Prof. Peter Zoller, Institute of Theoretical Physics,
• Leopold-Franzens Universität, Innsbruck
• `Quantum Computing and Quantum Communication'

Thursday October 25th 2001

• Prof. Bernhard Kräutler, Institute für Organische Chemie,
• Leopold-Franzens Universität, Innsbruck
• `The Pigments of Life'

Friday October 27th 2000

• Prof. Helmut Rauch,
• Atomic Institute, Vienna
• 'Neutrons, Schrödinger Waves and Cats'
• The lecture was followed by 'Recollections on Erwin Schrödinger', given by his daughter, Mrs. Ruth Braunizer.

Thursday October 21st 1999,

• Professor Anton Zeilinger,
• University of Vienna
• 'Schrödinger's Entanglement in Experiment: Quantum Teleportation and Nonlocality.'

November 24th 1998,

• Professor Peter Schuster,
• Theoretical Biochemistry Department, Vienna University
• 'Molecular Insights into Life and Evolution'

September 9th 1997,

• Professor Fritjof Capra, California,
• 'The Web of Life'

December 18th 1996,

• Professor Godfrey Schatz, University of Basel,
• 'Life - What DNA does not tell us'

December 6th 1995,

• Professor Hans Kirchmayer, Technische Universität Vienna,
• 'From Magnetism to Eigenvalues - Scientific Links Dublin-Vienna'