What was his nationality?
Danish
When did he live?
October 7, 1885 (in Copenhagen) - November 18, 1962 (in Copenhagen)
October 7, 1885 (in Copenhagen) - November 18, 1962 (in Copenhagen)
What was going on in the world around him?
The two great wars, one as a young man and the other in his more mature years.
The two great wars, one as a young man and the other in his more mature years.
What was going on in the scientific community?
- Einstein's breakthrough, setting the picture for new (modern) Physics.
- People were learning more and more about particles.
- Bohr helped developing the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project, among with a number of other famous physicists.
What was Bohr famous for?
- Bohr conceived the principle of complementarity: that items could be separately analyzed as having several contradictory properties.
- Investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them
- Bohr introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy orbit to a lower one, emitting a photon (light quantum) of discrete energy. This became a basis for quantum theory
What is his cultural and scientific legacy?
- after Bohr's death, the Institute of Physics at the University of Copenhagen changed its name to the Niels Bohr Institute
- Bohrium (a chemical element, atomic number 107) is named in honour of Niels Bohr
- The Centennial of Bohr's birth was commemorated in Denmark on 3 October 1985 with a postage stamp depicting Bohr with his wife Margrethe
- In 1997 the Danish National Bank started circulating the 500-krone banknote with the portrait of Niels Bohr smoking a pipe
by Aidin Khalili
