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Born
Born to Christian Bohr, physiologist at the University of Copenhagen, and his wife Ellen, née Adler in Copenhagen, Denmark -
Quantum model of the atom
Bohr proposed a quantum model of the atom due to realizing that the atom could not be explained by means of classical physics. So he based his model using Rutherford and adding Planck’s constant. Bohr, N. “I. On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules.”
The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, vol. 26, no. 151, July 1913, pp. 1–25., doi:10.1080/14786441308634955. -
Institute for Theoretical Physics
Bohr was offered a professorship in 1916 at the University of Copenhagen dedicated to theoretical physics, the next year he requested a letter to the faculty asking to establish the Institute for Theoretical Physics which was approved and opened he stressed, first, that experiments and experimenters were indispensable at an institute for theoretical physics in order to test the statements of the theorists. Second, the ambition younger generation of physicists could propose fresh ideas -
Structure of the Atom and the Physical and Chemical properties of the Elements
This was published as a part of a 3 essay set in "The Theory of Spectra and Atomic Constitution" which discusses the stability of the atom and to explain the periodic system and the X-Ray spectra in a concise manner.
Bohr, Neils. “The Theory of Spectra and Atomic Constitution; Three Essays, by Niels Bohr.” HathiTrust, 21 Dec. 2016, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015016063433&view=1up&seq=11. -
Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
First general attempt to understand the world of atoms in a quantum mechanics level. A collaboration between who is now called the founding father a Danish physicist Niels Bohr, with Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and other physicists who made contributions to the overall understanding of the atomic world. Faye, Jan, "Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) -
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The battle of Ideas between Bohr and Einstein
Here is a short video on the discussions about quantum mechanics between Einstein and Bohr which started in Brussels 1927 in a hotel where Einstein challenges Bohr on the idea that uncertainty rules the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bDB4Wfp7PM -
Bohr's concept of complementarity
In his 1927 Como Lecture reproduced in [1] Bohr introduced and explained his concept of complementarity to try and formalize an mathematical concept in quantum mechanics to serve as a core for scientific theory. His use in this concept was based on two logically incompatible structures the mathematical formalisms of classical and quantum physics.
[1] BOHR, N. The Quantum Postulate and the Recent Development of Atomic Theory1. Nature 121, 580–590 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/121580a0 -
Died
Copenhagen, Denmark
