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Niels Bohr

Danish physicist (1885-1962) · Denmark · Scientists · Died at 77

Niels Bohr is read about 3,003 times a day, in 144 languages.

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He gave the atom its architecture - orbits, quantum jumps, the idea that electrons don't drift but leap between fixed energy levels. That model opened the door, and though later physics walked through to stranger rooms, the threshold was his.

ScientistsScientistPhysicsSoccerChemistry20th Century

A life in dates

1962Died18 November 19621961Sonning PrizeAward1960“Physics is to be regarded not so much as the study of something a priori given, but rather as the development of methods of ordering and surveying human experience.”In their wordsOctober 1960"The Unity of Human Knowledge" (October 1960)

1957Atoms for Peace AwardAward1955Grand Cross of the Order of the DannebrogAward1954“An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.”In their words6 September 1954As quoted by Edward Teller, in Dr. Edward Teller's Magnificent Obsession by Robert Coughlan, in LIFE magazine (6 September 1954), p. 62

1951Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the FalconAward1949“However far the phenomena transcend the scope of classical physical explanation, the account of all evidence must be expressed in classical terms.”In their wordsNiels Bohr, "Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics," in , Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist (1949)

1947Order of the ElephantAward1946Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society Te ApārangiAward1938Copley MedalAward1934“What is it that we humans depend on? We depend on our words... Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others.”In their wordsQuoted in Philosophy of Science Vol. 37 (1934), p. 157, and in The Truth of Science : Physical Theories and Reality (1997) by Roger Gerhard

1931Decoration of the Cross of Honour of the DannebrogAward1930Faraday Lectureship PrizeAward1927“Even the mathematical framework helps nothing, I would first like to understand how Nature avoids the contradictions. (1927)”In their wordsQuoted in Werner Heisenberg: Die Sprache der Atome (2010) by H. Rechenberg, p. 564.

1926Foreign Member of the Royal SocietyAwardFranklin MedalAward1923Matteucci MedalAward1922Guthrie LectureAward1920“We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.”In their wordsIn his first meeting with Werner Heisenberg in early summer 1920, in response to questions on the nature of language, as reported in

Knight of the Order of the DannebrogAward1916ProfessorOffice1885Born7 October 1885

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

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In their own words 10

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Niels Bohr
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10 statements, newest first

  1. Physics is to be regarded not so much as the study of something a priori given, but rather as the development of methods of ordering and surveying human experience.

    Oct 1960, "The Unity of Human Knowledge" (October 1960), Own words

  2. An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.

    Sep 6, 1954, As quoted by Edward Teller, in Dr. Edward Teller's Magnificent Obsession by Robert Coughlan, in LIFE magazine (6 September 1954), p. 62, Own words

  3. Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.

    1952, In a 1952 conversation with Heisenberg and Pauli in Copenhagen; quoted in Heisenberg, Werner, Physics and Beyond. (New York: Harper & Row,, Own words

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Awards

Helmholtz Medal1961
Sonning Prize1961
Atoms for Peace Award1957
Niels Bohr International Gold Medal1955
Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog1955
Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order1954
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon1951
Order of the Elephant1947
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi1946
Knight Grand Officer of the Order of the Dannebrog1946
Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Paris1945
Copley Medal1938
Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog1937
Decoration of the Cross of Honour of the Dannebrog1931
Faraday Lectureship Prize1930
Max Planck Medal1930
Honorary Doctor of the Technical University of Denmark1929
Franklin Medal1926
Foreign Member of the Royal Society1926
Matteucci Medal1923
Silliman Memorial Lectures1923
Nobel Prize in Physics1922
Guthrie Lecture1922
Hughes Medal1921
Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog1920
Honorary doctor of the University of Zagreb
Honorary Doctorate of Technion
Knight First Class of the Order of St. Olav
Officer of the Legion of Honour
Honorary Doctor of the University of Warsaw

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About this person

Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen on 7 October 1885. He built the Bohr model of the atom, proposing discrete energy levels and stable orbits, and later conceived the principle of complementarity: that things could behave as both wave and particle depending on how you looked. In 1922 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. He founded the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen in 1920, where he mentored Heisenberg, Kramers, Klein, and de Hevesy, and predicted the existence of hafnium, named for the city where it was found. When Denmark fell to Germany in 1943, Bohr fled to Sweden, then Britain, and joined the Manhattan Project. After the war he pushed for international cooperation on nuclear energy, helped establish CERN and Denmark's Risø research center, and chaired the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics from 1957. He died on 18 November 1962.

Country
Denmark
Category
Scientists
Type
Scientist
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1885 to 1962 · aged 77

In common with Niels

Albert EinsteinBoth received Max Planck MedalThomas EdisonBoth received Matteucci MedalEnrico FermiBoth received Max Planck MedalDmitri MendeleevBoth received Faraday Lectureship PrizeRichard FeynmanBoth received Niels Bohr International Gold MedalMarie CurieBoth received Matteucci Medal

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