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Birth
Born In Copenhagen, Denmark, Niels is second of three children by Christian and Ellen Bohr. His father Christian was a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen, and his mother was the daughter of David B. Adler a member of the Adler banking family.
Image source: https://photos.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/photos/photos-of-the-month/april-2017 -
School
At the age of seven Niels is enrolled in the Gammelholm Latin School in Copenhagen. He was successful in most of the school subjects except for Danish writing and noted as being in the top or number one in his class. The image above is Niels Bohr and his classmates after taking the upper secondary school leaving exam in 1903. Niels is the third from the right.
Image source: https://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/www/niels/bohr/skole/ -
University
After completion of upper secondary school Niels enrolled at the Copenhagen University to study physics under Professor Christian Christiansen the universities sole physics professor. The image above is Christian Christiansen (1843-1917)
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Christiansen -
Gold Medal
Niels earns a gold medal as a prize from the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen for his experimental and theoretical exploration of liquids’ surface tensions using oscillating fluid jets.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Danish_Academy_of_Sciences_and_Letters -
Education
Niels earns his Master's degree in Physics -
Education cont.
Niels earns his Doctor's Degree -
Moving to Manchester
Niels moves to Manchester working in the Laboratory of Ernest Rutherford who received many awards through his lifetime. Among them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances. The image above is Ernest Rutherford from the Nobel foundation archive.
Image Source: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1908/summary/ -
Marriage
Niels marries Margrethe Norlund, and together they have six sons two of which died during childhood.
Image Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22231147 -
Atomic Structure
Bohr inspired by Rutherford’s atomic nucleus discovery, develops his model of atomic structure that states electrons travel in orbits around an atom’s nucleus. The image is a photo of notes for his new atomic theory.
Image source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp13at.html -
Professor
Niels is appointed as the Professor of Theoretical Physics at Copenhagen University. Niels raised money to improve and expand the working facilities for the class and laboratory starting in 1918 until 1945 when he felt it was complete. The image is the facility later to be named the Niels Bohr Institute.
Image Source: https://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/www/niels/bohr/institutet/ -
Nobel Prize
Niels receives the Noble Prize in physics for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them.
Image Source: https://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/www/niels/bohr/nobelprisen/ -
Japan
This link is a video clip of Niels' trip to Japan at the request of Yoshio Nishina.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKMPmvA0DKQ) -
WWII
Denmark was occupied by the Germans during WWII and the Nazi police intended to arrest Niels after a visit from Werner Karl Heisenberg. Niels fled to Sweden, eventually moving to England and the United States during the war. The image is Heisenberg and Niels at a conference in Copenhagen.
Image Source: https://www.lindau-nobel.org/de/bohr-heisenberg-two-physicists-in-occupied-copenhagen/ -
Los Alamos
While in the United States Niels works at the Los Alamos Laboratory on the Manhattan Project under the alias Nicholas Baker.
Image Source: https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/security-and-secrecy -
Niels Return
Niels returns to Copenhagen and is reelected president of the Royal Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Danish_Academy_of_Sciences_and_Letters -
NORDITA
The Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics is established and Niels is its chairman.
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Institute_for_Theoretical_Physics -
Death
Niels dies of heart failure. -
Post mortem
The institute for Theoretical Physics is officially renamed The Niels Bohr Institute.
