Can every diagonalizable matrix be diagonalized into the identity matrix? I'm a chemistry major and I haven't taken much math, but this came up in a discussion of quantum chemistry and my professor said (not very confidently) that if a matrix is diagonalizable, then you should be able to diagonalize it to the identity matrix. I suspect this is true for symmetrical matrices, but not all matrices. Is that correct?

Take the $0$ $n\times n$ matrix. It's already diagonal (and symmetrical) but certainly can't be diagonalized to the identity matrix. 
