Biography niels bohr

Danish physicist (–)

"Bohr" redirects here. For other uses, see Bohr (disambiguation).

Niels Henrik David Bohr (7 October – 18 November ) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.

Bohr developed the Bohr model of the atom, in which he proposed that energy levels of electrons are discrete and that the electrons revolve in stable orbits around the atomic nucleus but can jump from one energy level (or orbit) to another. Although the Bohr model has been supplanted by other models, its underlying principles remain valid. He conceived the principle of complementarity: that items could be separately analysed in terms of contradictory properties, like behaving as a wave or a stream of particles. The notion of complementarity dominated Bohr's thinking in both science and philosophy.

Bohr founded the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, now known as the Niels Bohr Institute, which opened in Bohr mentored and collaborated with physicists including Hans Kramers, Oskar Klein, George de Hevesy, and Werner Heisenberg. He predicted the properties of a new zirconium-like element, which was named hafnium, after the Latin name for Copenhagen, where it was discovered. Later, the synthetic element bohrium was named after him because of his groundbreaking work on the structure of atoms.

During the s, Bohr helped refugees from Nazism. After Denmark was occupied by the Germans, he met with Heisenberg, who had become the head of the German nuclear weapon project. In September word reached Bohr that he was about to be arrested by the Germans, so he fled to Sweden. From there, he was flown to Britain, where he joined the British Tube Alloys nuclear weapons project, and was part of the British mission to the Manhattan Project. After the war

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Who Was Niels Bohr?

Niels Bohr was an accomplished physicist who came up with a revolutionary theory on atomic structures and radiation emission. He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his ideas and years later, after working on the Manhattan Project in the United States, called for responsible and peaceful applications of atomic energy across the world.

Early Life

Niels Bohr was born on October 7, , in Copenhagen, Denmark, to mother Ellen Adler, who was part of a successful Jewish banking clan, and father Christian Bohr, a celebrated physiology academic. The young Bohr eventually attended Copenhagen University, where he received his master's and doctorate in physics by During the fall of the same year, Bohr traveled to Cambridge, England, where he was able to follow the Cavendish Laboratory work of scientist J.J. Thomson.

In , Bohr wed Margrethe Nørlund. The couple would have six children; four survived to adulthood and one, Aage, would become a well-known physics scientist as well.

Bohr’s own research led him to theorize in a series of articles that atoms give off electromagnetic radiation as a result of electrons jumping to different orbit levels, departing from a previously held model espoused by Ernest Rutherford. Though Bohr's discovery would eventually be tweaked by other scientists, his ideas formed the basis of future atomic research.

After teaching at Manchester’s Victoria University, Bohr settled again at Copenhagen University in with a professorship position. Then, in , he founded the university’s Institute of Theoretical Physics, which he would head for the rest of his life.

Wins Nobel Prize

Bohr received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on atomic structures, and he would continue to come up with revolutionary theories. He worked with Werner Heisenberg and other scientists on a new quantum mechanics principle connected to Bohr's concept of complementarity, which was initially presented at an Italian conference in The

Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen in to Christian Bohr, a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen and a Nobel Prize winner, and Ellen Adler Bohr, who came from a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family prominent in Danish banking and parliamentary circles. Bohr received his doctorate from Copenhagen University in and then studied under Ernest Rutherford in the Victoria University in Manchester, England.

In , Bohr visited Cambridge, where he followed the experimental work occurring in the Cavendish Laboratory under Sir J.J. Thomson's guidance and pursued his own theoretical studies. In , he worked in Professor Rutherford's laboratory in Manchester. Based on Rutherford's theories, Bohr published his model of atomic structure in , which is still commonly used and taught today as an educational simplification. The model introduced the theory of electrons traveling in orbits around the atom's nucleus, the chemical properties of the element being largely determined by the number of electrons in the outer orbits. Bohr also introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy orbit to a lower one, emitting a photon (light quantum) of discrete energy. This became the basis for quantum theory.

Following in his father's footsteps, in , Bohr became a professor at the University of Copenhagen. In , he became director of the newly constructed "Institute of Theoretical Physics" and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them."

After , Bohr's activities in his Institute were focused on research on the constitution of the atomic nuclei and of their transmutations and disintegrations. He also contributed to the clarification of the problems encountered in quantum physics, which is discussed in several essays written between and

In , shortly before he was to be arrested by the German police, Bohr e