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Bohr's Philosophical Work
Regarding the nature of physics and quantum mechanics, Bohr stated: "There is no quantum world. This is only an abstract physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we can say about nature". There are claims that Immanuel Kant's philosophy had an influence on Bohr. What Bohr believed about atoms and their actuality is a hotly contested topic in modern literature. -
The Bohr Model
In July of 1913, Danish physicist Niels Bohr published the first of three papers introducing his atom model, known simply as the Bohr atom. Utilizing a 1912 paper by Darwin on the interaction of the electrons with alpha particles using a nucleus as his starting point, he moved the theory of electrons traveling in orbits around the atom's nucleus forward. He displayed that the chemical properties of each element indicated the number of electrons in the outer orbits of atoms. -
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The Niels Bohr Institute
In April 1917, Bohr launched a push to create a Theoretical Physics Institute. Legislation creating the institute passed into law in November of 1917. The Niels Bohr Institute, currently a part of the University of Copenhagen, was founded on March 3, 1921, with Bohr as its director. The institute of Niels Bohr served as a hub for quantum mechanics and associated research. Most of the world's most well-known theoretical physicists worked for him at one point or another. -
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Work in Quantum Mechanics
In 1927, studies verified the de Broglie hypothesis that matter (like electrons) behaved like waves, and Bohr became convinced that light behaved like waves and particles. The phenomenon of beta decay caused Bohr to propose abandoning the law of conservation of energy once more in 1929. In 1936, Bohr developed a novel compound nucleus theory to explain how the nucleus may trap neutrons. The nucleus in this model could distort and appear like a drop of liquid. -
A Video on the Bohr Model
Here is a great video on Bohr's model of the atom! It talks briefly at the beginning how Bohr realized the popular atomic model of his time didn't sit right with him and how he realized what the actual model of an atom looked like! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAn8xZQ-d8