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Niels Bohr birth
Niels Henrik David Bohr was born on October 7, 1885 in Copenhagen, Denmark. To Christian Bohr and Ellen Adler Bohr. -
Copenhagen University
Niel entered Copenhagen University where he majored in Physics tutored by Professor Christian Christiansen -
Academy of Sciences winner
Niels won a prize from the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen for solving the scientific problem of surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets, and his paper was published in the Transactions of the Royal Society. -
Doctorate
Bohr earned his doctorate in Physics in 1911 -
Work at Cambridge
In Autumn of 1911 he went to Cambridge where he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory with Sir J.J.Thomson. -
Manchester
In the spring of 1912, Niels worked in Professor Rutherford’s laboratory in Manchester, -
Bohr's Model
Having worked with Ernest Rutherford, Bohr theorized that a positively charged nucleus with a lighter negatively charged electrons orbiting around it at considerable distance. This was Bohr's first major contribution in quantum physics. -
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Lectureship in Physics
Bohr led Physics lectureships in Copenhagen University and Victoria University in Manchester -
Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics
Bohr and Werner Heisenberg developed the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Bohr's contribution to this is his complementarity principle. "According to complementarity, on the atomic level a physical phenomenon expresses itself differently depending on the experimental setup used to observe it. Thus, light appears sometimes as waves and sometimes as particles" (Aaserud). -
Nuclear physics
"Together with Hevesy and the Danish physiologist August Krogh, Bohr applied for support to build a cyclotron as a means to pursue biological studies. Although Bohr intended to use the cyclotron primarily for investigations in nuclear physics, it could also produce isotopes of elements involved in organic processes, making it possible in particular to extend the radioactive indicator method, invented and promoted by Hevesy, to biological purposes" (Aaserud). -
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Manhattan Project
German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann made an unexpected experimental discovery that a Uranium atom can be split in half. The explanation to this theory was based on Bohr's theory of compound nucleus.This led to the discovery of nuclear fission which paved the way to nuclear bombs. -
Atomic Bomb
Bohr joined the allied atomic bomb project and made many technical contributions to the plutonium bomb. -
Post World War
In his later years, he focused his work to the peaceful application of atomic physics. He advocates the development in communication and openness between nation especially due to the rise of atomic weapons. -
Death
Neils Bohr left a massive legacy in theoretical, quantum, and nuclear physics. He contributed in the establishment of research atomic research facilities and became the president of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. He died November 18, 1962 in Copenhagen Denmark