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Schrödinger has often been reproached for having formulated (or reformulated) a wave-interpretation of quantum mechanics in the 1950's, without even trying to ground it in some calculations. People usually regret that he limited himself to generalities or philosophical considerations. L. Wessels notices that "(...)unlike de Broglie, who at about that same time returned to the task of constructing a precise mathematical theory based on his own pilot wave interpretation, Schrödinger did not attempt to work out his new wave picture in detail. Where in 1925 such an idea had been the starting point the creation of a new physical theory, it now gave rise only to philosophical polemic"¹. However, there is an obvious difference between de Broglie's and Schrödinger's positions, which should not have escaped the commentators. De Broglie was bound to formulate new mathematical laws, in order to rule the classical-like entities of the "sub-quantal" realm which were supposed by him to be incompletely (only statistically) described by quantum mechanics. By contrast, Schrödinger strongly rejected the idea that quantum mechanics is incomplete in the sense advocated by Einstein and de Broglie.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-1772-9_4

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