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An Academic Mindset
Niels Henrik David Bohr was born into a family of academics, with his father being a recognized professor of Physiology at the Copenhagen University, and his mother coming from a renown educational family (Nobelprize.org). His family had a tremendous influence on Bohr's formative years, and he grew up listening to and reading works such as Shakespeare and Poul Martin Møller (Siegfried). This lead to his outlook on science, which was present throughout his life. -
Theoretical Beginnings
Niels Bohr's first steps towards a broader theoretical world stemmed from his upbringing, and an "experimental and theoretical investigation of the surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets" in 1908 as a student in the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen (Nobelprize.org). His first experiments here began his titanic rise in the scientific community, and led to his more theoretical work and eventual developments with the atom for which he is known. -
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The Rise of the Atom
Bohr had been deeply researching the atomic structure, and his doctrinal thesis hinted at it in 1911 (Nobelprize.org). By 1913, he had his findings fully ready for publishing in the Philosophical Magazine as a three-part article called, "On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules" (Bohr, 1). Basically, his work combined the findings of Rutherford's atom with the Quantum Physics of Planck and Einstein (Siegfried). This video explains his findings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAn8xZQ-d8 -
Bohr's Truth
Perhaps one of his most riveting works was delivered during a lecture in 1927. The concept of "complementarity", was where multiple truths come together to support a common theme (Bohr). Bohr worked on the idea for the remainder of his life, and it became known as the Copenhagen quantum mechanics theory (Siegfried). His philosophy on the topic carried physics and science to heights previously thought unattainable, and helped pave the way for scientists after his death in 1962.