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Biography
Niels Bohr was born on October 8, 1885, in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father was a physiology professor at the University of Copenhagen. In 1903, Niels Bohr enrolled as an undergraduate student studying physiology and mathematics at the University of Copenhagen. It wasn't until 1905 when he entered into the Gold Medal competition and worked on an experiment examining the properties of surface tension, and won that he abandoned his current studies to focus on physics instead. -
Bohr Atomic Model
This model was used to explain how electrons can have a stable orbit around the nucleus. Bohr used the Rutherford model but modified it so that the electrons move in orbit of fixed size and energy. This theory though, could not explain properties of atoms that had more than one electron.
This opened the door so that other scientists or physicists, like Arnold Sommerfeld, could modify and help the model advance further through science. Bohr paved the road for understanding the atomic structure. -
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Contributions to Physics
Niels Bohr made numerous contributions to the world of physics. He helped understand the structure of atoms and the liquid drop model, as well as the identification of the isotope of uranium that was responsible for slow neutron fission. he is also credited with some of the work on the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. Bohr received the Nobel prize in 1922 and is often described as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. -
The Correspondence Principle
Niel Bohr formulated this principle in 1923. It states that for very large quantum numbers the laws of quantum theory merge with those of classical physics. This principle came from a thought he had that also led him to develop his atomic theory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NPEm0nabRY -
The Liquid Drop Model
We owe this model to physicist George Gamow, who formulated the model in 1929. It wasn't until 1939 that Niels Bohr and John Archibald Wheeler used it to help explain nuclear fission. This model shows us a "description of atomic nuclei in which the nucleons (neutrons and protons) behave like the molecules in a drop of liquid." (britannica.com, 2017) -
Atomic Research
During World War II, Niels Bohr worked in the United States in New Mexico, in Los Alamos laboratory on the manhattan project. The manhattan project was a code name that Americans used in developing nuclear weapons. Bohr took on an alias while there for security reasons, he called himself Nicholas Baker. He took on a very important role in the project and was even known as "father confessor"
From this, he began to work on peaceful applications.....
