Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger had in January 1926 published in the Annalen der Physik the paper "Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem" [tr.

Quantization as an Eigenvalue Problem] on wave mechanics and what is now known as the Schrödinger equation.

In this paper he had given a "derivation" of the wave equation for time independent systems, and showed that it gave the correct energy eigenvalues for the hydrogen-like atom.

This paper has been universally celebrated as one of the most important achievements of the twentieth century, and created a revolution in quantum mechanics, and indeed of all physics and chemistry.

he had submitted a second paper just four weeks later that solved the quantum harmonic oscillator, the rigid rotor and the diatomic molecule, and gives a new derivation of the Schrödinger equation.

A third paper in May had shown the equivalence of his approach to that of Heisenberg and given the treatment of the Stark effect.

A fourth paper in this most remarkable series showed how to treat problems in which the system changes with time, as in scattering problems.

These papers are the central achievement of his career and are at once recognized as having great significance by the physics community.

In 1927, he succeeds Max Planck at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin.