Deepak Chopra

As celebrated as he was for his pioneering work in quantum physics—e.g., Schrödinger’s equation and the paradox known as Schrödinger’s Cat—What Is Life? sealed the great man’s reputation as a crank, mystical dreamer, and in some quarters, a traitor to science. This doom befell a small book from 1944 that, innocently enough, applies the principles of physics and chemistry to the life of a cell. What ruined the author’s reputation but came as a phenomenal breakthrough for me was that Schrödinger placed consciousness front and center in the phenomenon of life on Earth. It’s one of the most prophetic messages of all time.