La mecánica ondulatoria llega a España: Schrödinger en la Universidad Internacional de Santander, agosto de 1934

Abstract

We describe and analyze the details of the first visit of the Viennese physicist Erwin Schröding-er to Spain, in the summer of 1934. The reason for the trip was the invitation he received from the International University of Santander, a meeting he attended after participating in the XIV Conference of the Spanish Association for the Advancement of Science that took place that same summer in Santiago de Compostela. We will discuss the impact of this visit on the first developments of quantum mechanics in Spain and see the role that personalities such as Xavier Zubiri or Blas Cabrera played in this episode. We will also put this visit in the context of Schrödinger’s personal and academic life, especially as regards the content of his talks. We will see that what he presented in Santiago and Santander should be considered as an advan-ce of his criticism of the orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics. We leave for a second installment the trip he made in the spring of 1935, less than a year later, this time with his wife Annie, and in which he delivered various conferences and courses on wave mechanics in Madrid.