Vilhelm bohr niels bohr biography

Niels Bohr was an accomplished physicist who came up with a revolutionary theory on atomic structures and radiation emission. He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his ideas and years later, after working on the Manhattan Project in the United States, called for responsible and peaceful applications of atomic energy across the world. Niels Bohr was born on October 7, , in Copenhagen, Denmark, to mother Ellen Adler, who was part of a successful Jewish banking clan, and father Christian Bohr, a celebrated physiology academic.

The young Bohr eventually attended Copenhagen University, where he received his master's and doctorate in physics by During the fall of the same year, Bohr traveled to Cambridge, England, where he was able to follow the Cavendish Laboratory work of scientist J. The couple would have six children; four survived to adulthood and one, Aage, would become a well-known physics scientist as well.

Though Bohr's discovery would eventually be tweaked by other scientists, his ideas formed the basis of future atomic research. Bohr received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on atomic structures, and he would continue to come up with revolutionary theories. He worked with Werner Heisenberg and other scientists on a new quantum mechanics principle connected to Bohr's concept of complementarity, which was initially presented at an Italian conference in The concept asserted that physical properties on an atomic level would be viewed differently depending on experimental parameters, hence explaining why light could be seen as both a particle and a wave, though never both at the same time.

Bohr would come to apply this idea philosophically as well, with the belief that evolving concepts of physics deeply affected human perspectives. Bohr went on to work with the group of scientists who were at the forefront of research on nuclear fission during the late s, to which he contributed the liquid droplet theory. Outside of his pioneering ideas, Bohr was known for his wit and warmth, and his humanitarian ethics would inform his later work.

Niels bohr discovery

With Adolf Hitler 's rise in power, Bohr was able to offer German Jewish physicists refuge at his institute in Copenhagen, which in turn led to travel to the United States for many. Once Denmark became occupied by Nazi forces, the Bohr family escaped to Sweden, with Bohr and his son Aage eventually making their way to the United States. Because he had concerns about how the bomb could be used, he called for future international arms control and active communication about the weapon between nations — an idea met with resistance by Winston Churchill and Franklin D.

After the end of the war, Bohr returned to Europe and continued to call for peaceful applications of atomic energy.