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Schrödinger's cat in popular culture

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About Wikipedia Schrödinger's cat is a paradoxical thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrödinger that attempts to illustrate the
Community portal incompleteness of the theory of quantum mechanics when going from subatomic to macroscopic systems. This means that
Recent changes there can be two different universes depending on the action taken which in this case is opening the box to see if the cat is dead
Contact Wikipedia or not. You can not say the cat is alive or dead until you open the box.
Donate to Wikipedia
Help Contents [hide]
1 The original formulation of Schrödinger's cat
Toolbox
2 Books
Print/export 2.1 Other examples
2.2 Animals other than cats
Languages
3 Television
Polski 3.1 1995–1999
3.2 2000–2004
3.3 2005–2009
3.4 2010–2014
4 Film
5 Video games
6 Web comics
7 Music
8 Other uses in popular culture
9 References
10 External links

The original formulation of Schrödinger's cat [edit]

In 1935, Schrödinger published an essay describing the conceptual problems in quantum mechanics. A brief paragraph in this
essay described the cat paradox:
One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following diabolical device
(which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive
substance, so small that perhaps in the course of one hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability,
perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small
flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if
meanwhile no atom has decayed. The first atomic decay would have poisoned it. The Psi function for the entire system
would express this by having in it the living cat and the dead cat mixed or smeared out in equal parts.[1]

Books [edit]

It was not long before science-fiction writers picked up this evocative concept, often using it in a
humorous vein.[2] Several have taken the thought experiment a step further, pointing out extra
complications which might arise should the experiment actually be performed. For example, in his
novel American Gods, Neil Gaiman has a character observe, "if they don't ever open the box to
feed it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead." Likewise, Terry Pratchett's Lords and
Ladies adds the issue of a third possible state, in the case of Greebo, "Bloody Furious" (In
Pratchett's later novel The Last Hero, Death attempts the experiment himself, but cannot
understand the mechanics of it, wondering if it implies that he will kill the cat just by looking at it).
Robert Anton Wilson wrote a trilogy of novels dealing with themes related to quantum mechanics,
collectively known as the Schrödinger's Cat trilogy.
Douglas Adams describes an attempt to enact the experiment in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective This artwork by F.
Agency. By using clairvoyance to see inside the box, it was found that the cat was neither alive Gwynplaine MacIntyre,
nor dead, but missing, and Dirk's services were employed in order to recover it (Although he originally published in Analog
subsequently admits that this was nothing but nonsense intended to test the mental state of his magazine, illustrates
MacIntyre's science-fiction
friend Richard MacDuff, Richard's rational argument about how clairvoyance would just be another story "Schrödinger's Cat-
way of looking inside the box confirming Dirk's theory). Sitter". The cat occupies a
In Libba Bray's book Going Bovine, three stoners argue whether the cat is alive or dead, or does quantum superposition
relative to the tined object,
the person who opens the box create the possibilities. There are constant references to a band

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the person who opens the box create the possibilities. There are constant references to a band being simultaneously in front
called Copenhagen Interpretation, who disappear into thin air in the middle of a benefit concert. of and behind the object,
which itself occupies a
Other examples [edit] quantum superposition
because it is simultaneously a
In Adam Felber's comic first novel, "Schrödinger's Ball" (2006), Dr. Erwin Schrödinger is a square-edged object with two
character, and there is much exploration of quantum mechanics. tines and a round-edged
object with three tines.
In "Schrödinger's Cat-Sitter" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre (published in Analog magazine,
July/August 2001), a time-traveler named Smedley Faversham visits the past to interview Erwin
Schrödinger but gets tricked into taking care of Schrödinger's wife's cat while she is away and Schrödinger is visiting Max
Planck. In attempting to take care of the cat, Faversham inadvertently locks it in a cabinet with a Geiger counter, a vial of acid,
and a hammer, unintentionally enacting Schrödinger's thought experiment, but with results that remain as uncertain as in the
original case.
Yet another example of the cat in popular fiction is the cat Quark, from Jeff Noon's book "Automated Alice". In it, Alice has the
question "Am I real, or am I fake?" which is much like "Is it alive, or is it dead?" Near the end of the book, Alice encounters a cat
named Quark, who is invisible, and got that way by being locked in a box and having a strange substance poured in, mixing it
with a chameleon. The cat was both influenced by the Cheshire Cat, and Schrödinger's Cat, the Cheshire Cat and the Alice
books being similar to the experiment already.
The title character (though not a main character) of R.A. Heinlein's "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls", a kitten named Pixel, is
of indeterminate existence and as such, has the ability to turn up in places that are specifically sealed to outside access. When
this ability is questioned, the answer is "He's Schrödinger's cat", leading to the response, "Well, tell Schrödinger to come get his
cat," or words to that effect.
In Dan Simmons' books Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, one of the main protagonists is sentenced to death by being
locked in a larger version of a Schrödinger's cat-box, so that random chance, rather than any single person, is responsible for his
eventual death.
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, the character Death is said to not be a fan of this theory, as he is a cat "person."
Pratchett's The Unadulterated Cat claims that the ability of cats to be on the wrong side of any door is the result of a group of
scientists who failed to realise this was a thought experiment ("ie, one you can't do, and won't work), resulting in all cats having
abilities similar to Pixel in The Cat Who Walked Through Walls. In the novel "Witches Abroad" a third state is added to the
theory: the cat can be "Dead", "Alive" or "Bloody Furious"
In the S.M. Stirling "T2" novel trilogy, John Connor mentally compares his, Skynet's technology and ultimately everyone's
existence to the Schröedinger principle of entropy. Connor wonders if the fact that they retain memories and physical aspects
(from both so-called altered/original timelines) perpetuates the unavoidable nuclear war, which set in motion key events that led
to what he knows as the present.
The award-winning New Zealand science fiction novelist Glynne MacLean [1] tells the cat's perspective of the famous thought
experiment in the short story Viennese Meow [2] published by Prima Storia [3] .
On a somewhat more serious level, Ian Stewart's novel Flatterland, (a sequel to Flatland) attempts to explain many concepts in
modern mathematics and physics through the device of having a young female Flatlander explore other parts of the "Mathiverse."
Schrödinger's Cat is just one of the many strange Mathiverse denizens she and her guide meet; the cat is still uncertain whether
it is alive or dead, long after it left the box. Her guide, the Space Hopper, reassures the Cat with a modern view of quantum
decoherence. Ursula K. Le Guin wrote a story entitled "Schrödinger's Cat" in 1974 (reprinted in The Compass Rose, published in
1982), which also deals with decoherence. Greg Egan's novel Quarantine, billed as "a story of quantum catastrophe," features an
alternative solution to the paradox: in Egan's version of quantum mechanics, the wave function does not collapse naturally. Only
certain living things—human beings among them—collapse the wave function of things they observe. Humans are therefore
highly dangerous to other lifeforms which require the full diversity of uncollapsed wavefunctions to survive.
As Egan notes, Schrödinger's hypothetical cat is one of the most familiar illustrations of quantum-mechanical oddities. In
Quarantine, a physicist asks the narrator, an ex-cop and private investigator, if he has ever heard of "the quantum measurement
problem." The narrator is naturally confused, but when asked if he's heard of Schrödinger's cat, he replies, "Of course."
Another, less apparent, reference to Schrödinger's cat comes from the popular collection of short, humorous stories, The
Bastard Operator From Hell written by Simon Traviglia. While attempting to trick the CEO of the company that he works for into
upgrading their telecomms systems, the narrator (affectionately referred to as 'the Bastard') makes up a false explanation for why
the company experiences low bandwidth during a videoconferencing session: "It's a problem with Heisenberg's certainty principle
of video compression... It's a famous quantum physics experiment which videoed cats in boxes. The more cats, the more
certainty that you'll get quantum disturbance in video compression."

Animals other than cats [edit]

This artwork by ADA+Neagoe, originally published in
Omagiu magazine.
Fiction writers have confined other animals besides cats in such
contraptions. Dan Simmons's novel Endymion begins with hero Raul
Endymion sentenced to death by imprisonment in a "Schrödinger box."
In the fortieth-anniversary Doctor Who audio drama "Zagreus" (2003),
the Doctor is locked in a lead-lined box also containing cyanide in an
effort to explain his situation of being neither dead nor alive. Afterwards,
the Doctor does mention that he has met Schrödinger's Cat.
Kosuke Fujishima's manga series Ah! My Goddess featured a play on
Schrödinger's Cat. During one storyline, a storage room was expanded
to infinite proportions and the main characters encountered a
Schrodinger's Whale, an extremely rare species with the ability to travel
through space-time in a five-dimensional quantum state. The male lead
in the series, Keiichi Morisato, befriends the whale and teaches it

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songs by real-life musician Matthew Sweet - but their time spent together is short, for the whale must move on or risk its safety
as its wave function collapses. Because of this need to keep moving through quantum states, Schrödinger's Whales hardly ever
meet, the reason they are so thin on the ground — but miraculously, Keiichi secured the future of the species by teaching it the
songs. After discovering the whale had gone, he found out that it had learned Sweet's song Missing Time by itself - this gave the
whales a call that they could locate each other by.
In Peter Milligan's metaphysical comic Animal Man, Schrodinger's Cat is explained using a theory of pizza delivery mix-ups,
resulting in both pepperoni and plain pizzas occupying the unopened box.
A Nazi character in the popular manga Hellsing by Kouta Hirano resembles a young boy dressed in the manner of the Hitler
Youth, with cat ears (neko-boy) named Schrödinger who has the ability to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It is
noted in the manga that, no matter how many times they put a bullet in Schrödinger's head (Alucard and Integra have both done
it) or try to kill him any other way, he cannot die because he is just like Schrödinger's cat; as long as Schrödinger believes he is
alive, then he is, simply because he believes it to be so. He eventually commits suicide as part of the Major's plan to "poison"
Alucard.

Television [edit]

1995–1999 [edit]
The character Quinn in the series Sliders has a pet cat named Schrödinger. In the pilot episode (1995), Quinn can't bear the
idea of sending his cat into a machine he invented because he's afraid of something bad might happen and decides it's better
to go inside himself.
In the Stargate SG-1 episode, "Enigma" (1998), Samantha Carter gives a pet cat named Schrödinger to Narim. Narim
belongs to the Tollan society, Which is several centuries ahead of Earth when it comes to technology. After explaining the
name Schrödinger, Narim comments that his society calls that concept Kulivrian physics. Narim's response to Carter's
inquiry about whether or not he has studied it is: "Yeah, I've studied it...among other misconceptions of elementary
science."[3]
In the Futurama episode, "Mars University" (1999), Professor Farnsworth is lecturing on the effects of quantum neutrino fields
and the blackboard behind him displays an explanation of "Superdupersymmetric String Theory" and a diagram explaining
"Witten's Dog". Witten's Dog, named after Ed Witten, is a parody of the classic Schroedinger's Cat paradox. Astrophysicist
David Schiminovich created both the equations and the diagram, based on "an equation that constrains the mass density of
neutrinos in the universe".[4]

2000–2004 [edit]
The Futurama episode, "A Clone of my Own" (2000), features a montage of some of Professor Farnsworth's achievements,
which includes Schrödinger's Kit Kat Club.
In the Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda episode, "A Heart for Falsehood Framed" (2001), Beka Valentine falls in love with a
thief whose alias is Schrödinger's Cat.
When in the Futurama episode, "The Luck of the Fryrish" (2001), the winner of a "quantum finish" horse race is decided by an
electron microscope, Professor Farnsworth exclaims, "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it."
In the Six Feet Under episode, "A Perfect Circle" (2003), Nate has a vision of watching a made-up television show that
discusses the theory in brief.
In the Doctor Who audio adventure Zagreus, the Eighth Doctor is transformed into the destructive Zagreus after he is exposed
to an anti-time explosion after he was forced to use his TARDIS to contain it- anti-time being as destructive to time as anti-
matter is to matter-, but shifts between his own personality and the 'Zagreus' personality, realising that as long as he remains
in the TARDIS the universe cannot decide which personality is in control, noting the similarities between this situation and the
Schrödinger's Cat experiment.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode, "Formula for Success" (2004 in Japan, 2005 in the USA), Bastion Misawa has Schrödinger's
Cat as a formula on his wall. (This is only present in the original dub though, as the formulas on his wall are changed to
monster, spell, and trap card formulas.)

2005–2009 [edit]
On the "Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset" (2005), there is a slight reference to quantum physics and
Schrödinger's cat. The back of the box states, "While to the uninitiated they may look like ordinary .65 oz. digital video discs,
due to the unique physics of comedy (it's like quantum but with fewer dead cats), each disc actually weighs a full metaphoric
ton! Please remember to lift with your knees."
In the Numb3rs episode, "Identity Crisis" (2005), Don is burdened by the possibility of wrongly sending an innocent man to
jail based on flawed evidence. His brother Charlie and Physics professor Larry remark that the evidence "proving Don right
and wrong at the same time" is the "old paradox of Schrödinger's cat".
In the episode of The West Wing, "The Wedding" (2005), Ellie Bartlet gets married at the White House. The name of the
band playing the reception is Schrödinger's Cats.
Charlie Brooker, on his program Screenswipe (2006), compares the British version of the game show, Deal Or No Deal, to the
Schrödinger's cat parodox, in that any of the amounts of money could be in any box until they are opened and the contents
are revealed.
In The Sopranos episode, "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" (2006), Tony Soprano's fellow hospital patient, former Bell Labs
scientist and science teacher, John Schwinn (Hal Holbrook), discusses the interconnectivity of all life. When Paulie Gualtieri
bemoans the fact that we are all along, Schwinn explains that no event or entity can be understood independently from the
rest of the world (referencing the work of Erwin Schrödinger) (see Quantum mysticism). Another hospital patient, Rapper Da
Lux, agrees with Schwinn: "everything is everything, I'm down with that." Later, Tony confides to Schwinn he's starting to
believe we're all part of something bigger.
In the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX episode, "It's All Relative" (2006 Japan, 2007 USA), Dr. Eisenstein uses a card known as "Schrödinger's
Cat", which allows him when he draws outside his Draw Phase to shuffle the drawn cards back into his deck and draw the

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 same number of cards again. This may be a result of the "Schrödinger's Cat" (either life or death) paradox.
The "Blink" (2007) episode of Doctor Who features a race of beings referred to as Weeping Angels. They are described as
being "quantum-locked", which means they do not exist when looked at but can prove deadly when unobserved. At one point,
the Doctor also mentions that he has met Schrödinger's Cat.
In episode 10 of Toaru Majutsu no Index (2008), Misaka-imōto is asked to name the stray cat she found. Her third choice
(after "Dog" and "Tokugawa Ieyasu") is "Schrödinger." Tōma Kamijō promptly responds that that name is taboo for cats.
Schrodinger's cat is also frequently referenced throughout both To Aru Majutsu no Index and To aru Kagaku no Railgun.
In the Bones episode, "The Pain in the Heart" (May 19, 2008), Dr. Jack Hodgins said to Dr. Zack Addy that a crime scene is
like Schrödinger's Cat; the lab was a crime scene which they could not disturb, but they could not solve the crime without
entering the lab. The following dialog ensues when Special Agent Seeley Booth examines the crime scene/lab and tries to
decide what to do about the paradox:
Dr. Camille Saroyan: Well, it's a pickle. The platform's a crime scene, but we need to access it to
investigate the crime.
Angela Montenegro: A "cake and eat it too" situation.
Dr. Zack Addy: Well, is it a pickle or a cake?
Dr. Jack Hodgins: It's Schrodinger's cat.
Dr. Zack Addy: -brightens- That I understand. -frowns- Cakes and pickles meant nothing to me.
IIn the NCIS episode, "Grace Period" (2007), Agent Timothy McGee mentions "Schrödinger's Cat" when the team determines
that their evidence points in two opposite directions, that a suspect--who supposedly was alive--was dead at least a day.
In an episode of House M. D. entitled "The Right Stuff" (2007), while talking about the appearance of Allison Cameron
(supposedly in Arizona), Doctor Wilson remarks, "...since she's not a dead cat, it is scientifically impossible for her to be in
two places at once." House replies, "Physics joke: don't hear enough of those."
An episode of the television show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, "The Theory of Everything" (2008), features the gravestone
of a deceased couple's cat named Schrödinger Martin. This is a reference to the episode's theme: that everyone in the cases
is connected by String Theory.
In The Big Bang Theory episode, "The Tangerine factor" (May 19, 2008), Leonard's attempt to arrange a date with Penny
results in both Penny and Leonard's seeking Sheldon's advice. Sheldon advises Penny that “just like Schrödinger's cat being
alive and dead at the same time”, her date with Leonard currently has both “good and bad” probabilistic outcomes. The only
way to find out is to “open the box”, in other words collapse the wave-function of an uncertain date into a specific outcome.
Penny misunderstands Sheldon's argument and interprets his advice as general encouragement to go on the date.
Apparently, a long session of Sheldon trying to get his point across to Penny ensues with Sheldon's repetitively defining the
Schrödinger's cat paradox. Later, Sheldon mentions Schrödinger's cat to Leonard, who instantly gets the implied wave-
function collapse as “brilliant”. At the appointed hour, when Leonard comes by to pick up Penny, she is clearly even more
uncomfortable and concerned about going out on a date which may ruin their friendship. Leonard mentions Schrödinger's cat
to Penny, to which she replies she has heard “far too much about Schrödinger's cat”. Leonard interprets that as sign of
approval and passionately kisses her. Probability functions collapses into a clear determined outcome: Penny enjoys the kiss
and clearly has no more fears and concerns about going out with Leonard. Recognizing her own chemistry with Leonard,
Penny finally understands Schrödinger's cat analogy by exclaiming, in double-entendre: "the cat is alive".
In the Defying Gravity episode,"Love, Honor, Obey" (2009), the astronauts lose all communications with mission control while
in a protective shelter during a solar flare. Steve Wassenfelder, the ship's theoretical physicist, describes their situation as
akin to Schrödinger's cat, for mission control does not know if the astronauts are alive or dead until communication can be
reestablished.
In Season 1, episode 6 of FlashForward, "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps" (2009), Simon references Schrödinger's Cat as
he is trying to explain why the blackouts happened. He describes it using the metaphor of holding a tiny cat in a closed hand
with a poisoned sardine. If the cat eats the sardine, he will die; if not, he will live. But the outcome will be unknown until the
hand is opened. Until then, the cat may be both alive and dead simultaneously, with reality ultimately being decided upon the
intrusion of an observer.
In the popular[citation needed] anime and manga series Hellsing, the character of Junior Warrant Officer Schrödinger, a young
boy dressed in Hitler Youth clothing and under the command of the organization Millennium, appears to be an almost
physical embodiment of the theory. The character has the power to "be everywhere and nowhere at once". In one episode, he
manages to appear in the Hellsing Organization and have his head blown off by Alucard, Hellsing's vampire, but appear back
in the Millennium headquarters a few moments later, apparently uninjured. The theory[citation needed] behind this is that if he
believes he is in a place, he will appear there, and if he believes he is uninjured, he will be uninjured. Schrödinger first appears
in OVA 4 (2009).
Charlie Brooker, on his program Newswipe (2009), refers to the media coverage of Jade Goody's death as paradoxical in the
same way that Schrödinger's cat is. He shows a visual metaphor using a stuffed cat to explain, then comments,"But that's
the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics for you."
Nearly a third of an episode Template:Episode name and original air date needed of the series, Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei is
devoted to Schrödinger's cat, referencing it in the way that there are infinite possibilities for anything in a box. Examples
include Schrödinger's lunch box (Which may or may not have mold), Schrödinger's boxed-wives (Which could all possibly be
ideal), and refusing to face reality (by boxing things with possibly bad outcomes).
In Shigofumi Template:Episode name and original air date needed, the main protagonists are requested to deliver a letter from
a cat's deceased owner; later it is discovered that this unlocatable cat is named schrodinger. The theme is further toyed with
when the observer realizes that the cat shows up all over the city in a matter of hours, suggesting an eerie ability to be
everywhere.

2010–2014 [edit]

Film [edit]

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 Sliding Doors (1998), starring Gwenyth Paltrow is entirely based on this principle. The plot splits into two parallel universes,
based on the two paths her life could take depending on whether she catches a London Underground train or not.
In Déjà Vu (2006), co-writers Rossio & Marsilii give a subtle hint to both the animal and concept. A cat, owned by murder
victim Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), passes by Douglas Carlin (Denzel Washington) before and after Denzel's time travel-to
erase the events taking form. Between the two events, Carlin remarks about entropy to underscore his point about two
separate timelines in which Claire is paradoxically alive and dead.
Timecrimes (2007), written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, is a film about time travel and cause and effect. In the film, a
woman wears a T-shirt featuring two cats as a trivial reference to Schrodinger's Cat.
In A Serious Man (2009), written by the Coen Brothers, protagonist Larry Gopnik mentions Schrodinger's Cat in a discussion
about the unpredictability of future events.
In Repo Men (2010), Jude Law's character mentions the Schrödinger's cat example in the beginning of the movie.

Video games [edit]

In Digital Devil Saga, a game produced by Atlus, there is an enigmatic cat-like creature revealed to have some connection to
God, whom the main character can see throughout the games. His name is 'Schrodinger'.
In Wild Arms 3, the character of Shady the Cat, owned by a Maya Schrödinger, is based on Schrödinger's cat, and is
claustrophobic as a result of the "experiment."
In NetHack, one of the monsters encountered in this roguelike game is called 'Quantum Mechanic', which often carries a chest.
The chest either contains a cat corpse, or causes a cat to appear. Reading the source code to the game also reveals that the
game does not determine the state of the cat until the chest is opened.
In pop'n music, a song titled Schrödinger's Cat was composed by Tomosuke Funaki for the arcade version of Pop'n Music 16
PARTY. It is accredited to being the first 43 in any arcade pop'n music game, the highest difficulty level in the series.
In Rock Band, a daily battle of the bands was entitled Schrödinger's Cat. It featured the songs "Alive" by Pearl Jam, "Dead" by
The Pixies and "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi.
A vague character in the sound novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Frederica Bernkastel, writes in one of her poems about the
experiment Schrödinger performed on the cat, concluding on the sad note that it died. There are more references of the
experiment in other parts of the story.
In the sound novel game Umineko no Naku Koro ni, the main character Battler has a battle of logic with a witch to prove that
witches cannot exist. It is mentioned that while Battler is saying witches do not exist, and the witch is saying they do, that both
truths exist at the same time and is compared to Schrodingers' Cat Box.
In Lunar Knights, there is a cat named Perrault who pilots a spacecraft named Schrödinger, who, at one point everyone believes
to be dead, but they are incorrect.
In BioShock 2, there is a cat named Schrödinger who is frozen inside some ice in the level "Dionysus Park". [4]
In Gundeadligne, the first stage is "Le chat noir de Schrödinger - Schrödinger's Black Cat", This stage's boss is called
"Chatnoir", whose appearance is that of a Cat girl (nekomimi). [5]

Web comics [edit]

Dresden Codak features a Schrodinger strip[5]

xkcd features a Schrodinger strip[6]
LukeSurl.com features a Charles Dickens and Schrodinger strip[7]
Piled Higher and Deeper features a Quantum Gradnamics, series[8]
Cyanide and Happiness features a "90% of the General Public Won't Understand Week", strip with a reference to
Schrödinger and his cat[9]
The website Abstruse Goose features series of comics "Schrödinger’s Miscalculation"[10][11][12]
The Order of the Stick features a strip about "Schrödinger's Ninjas" in its first book.
Questionable Content mentions Schrodinger's cat in its own absurd extrapolation from the Copenhagen interpretation[13]
The characters/creators of Three Panel Soul own a cat named Schrodinger.[14]
Zach Weiner's Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal features a one panel misunderstanding Schrödinger's Cat[15]
Patrick Connelly's Schrödinger features comics around Schrödinger the cat[16]
Darby Conley's Get Fuzzy Had a Comic on July 10, 2009 Referring to Schrödinger and his cat with Bucky Saying Who would
win a Philosophical Smackdown Between Pavlov's Dog and Schrödinger's Cat
MS Paint Adventures, in an extra from the Problem Sleuth adventure, the Midnight Crew used Schrödinger's cat to deal with a
meddlesome wasp[17].
Popular sketch comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun performed a skit entitled 'Schrodinger's Fridge', in which a man's beer is in
a constant state of flux and thus, undrinkable.
User Friendly 2003-04-27 parodies the use of the HTML <blink> tag[18]
Nursing Spins twists the Schrodinger Cat experiment while putting a kitten in control of the action Nursing Spins 2010-08-
24

Music [edit]

Eyedea: On the "Infrared Roses" rack from his 2001 CD, The Many Faces of Oliver Hart, Eyedea proclaims, "The curiosity
that killed Schrödinger's cat was the only thing that kept it alive, matter of fact".
eyenine: On his 2009 CD, the insomnia sessions, eyenine references Schrödinger's cat in his song "photoshoplifting".[19]
Reading Day Opportunities: During an early gig in his hometown Reading, Reading Day Opportunities bass player Nicky
Clark wore a T-Shirt emblazoned with "Schrodinger's cat is dead" on the front and "Schrodinger's cat is alive" on the back.
This demonstrated his interest in Physics, which he pursued at Manchester University.

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 Mark Rosengarten: On his 2007 CD, Schrodinger's Cat Strikes Back, this high-school chemistry teacher performs a song
that humorously depicts Schrodinger's Cat getting her revenge for such a diabolical idea.
Tears for Fears: The track titled, "Schrodinger's Cat", is featured as a B-side on Tears for Fears' single, "Break It Down Again".

Other uses in popular culture [edit]

The ecommerce website ThinkGeek sells a t-shirt based on the Schrödinger's cat experiment. One side of the shirt reads,
"Schrödinger's cat is dead." The other side reads, "Schrödinger's cat is not dead." This parodies the concept of the cat being
both dead and alive.
The website Shirt.Woot! offered a psychedelic t-shirt based on the infamous cat.
At a recent event at the San Diego Comic Con it was revealed that the new alternate reality being presented in the Wonder
Woman comic book had something to do with Schrödinger's cat.[20]

References [edit]

1. ^ E. Schrödinger, Die gegenwärtige Situation in der Quantenmechanik, Naturwissenschaftern. 23: pp. 807–812; 823–823, 844
–849. (1935). English translation: John D. Trimmer, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 124, pp. 323–38 (1980),
reprinted in Quantum Theory and Measurement, p. 152 (1983).
2. ^ Sam Stall. 100 Cats Who Changed Civilization . p. 34.
3. ^ http://www.gateworld.net/sg1/s1/transcripts/116.shtml
4. ^ Gordon Farrer (2006-01-06). "Sum thing to do with maths genius" . Retrieved 2007-08-28.
5. ^ "Trouble in Memphis" . Dresden Codak. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
6. ^ "Schrodinger(#45)" . xkcd. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
7. ^ "076 - What the Dickens?" . lukesurl.com. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
8. ^ "Quantum Gradnamics, pt. 3 of 3" . Piled Higher and Deeper. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
9. ^ "90% of the General Public Won't Understand Week" . Cyanide and Happiness. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
10. ^ "Schrödinger’s Infinitesimal Miscalculation" . Abstruse Goose. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
11. ^ "Schrödinger’s Miscalculation — Part 2" . Abstruse Goose. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
12. ^ "Schrödinger’s (emotional) Miscalculation — Part 3" . Abstruse Goose. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
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19. ^ eyenine
20. ^ http://www.newsarama.com/comics/SDCC-2010-DC-Universe-Event-Horizon-100724.html

External links [edit]

Poem by Cecil Adams

Tears For Fears song lyrics Schrodinger's Cat
Viennese Meow - the cat's perspective.
Discussion about the Schrödinger's Cat at the Copenhagen Interpretation Fantasy Camp: Djinn and Juice
Schrodinger's cat versus Darwin

Categories: Physics in fiction | Science fiction themes | Topics in popular culture | Fictional cats

This page was last modified on 6 September 2010 at 02:26.

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