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Niels Bohr. Niels Henrik David Bohr ( Danish: [ˈne̝ls ˈpoɐ̯ˀ]; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
- Overview
- Early life
- Bohr atomic model
- Bohr’s Institute for Theoretical Physics
- Nobel Prize
Niels Bohr proposed a model of the atom in which the electron was able to occupy only certain orbits around the nucleus. This atomic model was the first to use quantum theory, in that the electrons were limited to specific orbits around the nucleus. Bohr used his model to explain the spectral lines of hydrogen.
What was Niels Bohr’s atomic model?
Niels Bohr modeled the atom with electrons that could only have specific stable orbits. This model of the atom was the first to incorporate quantum theory. That electrons could only occur in specific orbits explained why elements such as hydrogen emitted and absorbed light at specific wavelengths.
Niels Bohr (born October 7, 1885, Copenhagen, Denmark—died November 18, 1962, Copenhagen) Danish physicist who is generally regarded as one of the foremost physicists of the 20th century. He was the first to apply the quantum concept, which restricts the energy of a system to certain discrete values, to the problem of atomic and molecular structure. For that work he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922. His manifold roles in the origins and development of quantum physics may be his most-important contribution, but through his long career his involvements were substantially broader, both inside and outside the world of physics.
Bohr was the second of three children born into an upper middle-class Copenhagen family. His mother, Ellen (née Adler), was the daughter of a prominent Jewish banker. His father, Christian, became a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen and was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize.
Enrolling at the University of Copenhagen in 1903, Bohr was never in doubt that he would study physics. Research and teaching in that field took place in cramped quarters at the Polytechnic Institute, leased to the University for the purpose. Bohr obtained his doctorate in 1911 with a dissertation on the electron theory of metals.
On August 1, 1912, Bohr married Margrethe Nørlund, and the marriage proved a particularly happy one. Throughout his life, Margrethe was his most-trusted adviser. They had six sons, the fourth of whom, Aage N. Bohr, shared a third of the 1975 Nobel Prize for Physics in recognition of the collective model of the atomic nucleus proposed in the early 1950s.
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Bohr’s first contribution to the emerging new idea of quantum physics started in 1912 during what today would be called postdoctoral research in England with Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester. Only the year before, Rutherford and his collaborators had established experimentally that the atom consists of a heavy positively charged nu...
In the spring of 1916, Bohr was offered a new professorship at the University of Copenhagen; dedicated to theoretical physics, it was the second professorship in physics there. As physics was still pursued in the cramped quarters of the Polytechnic Institute, it is not surprising that already in the spring of 1917 Bohr wrote a long letter to his faculty asking for the establishment of an Institute for Theoretical Physics. In the inauguration speech for his new institute on March 3, 1921, 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, he expressed his ambition to make the new institute a place where the younger generation of physicists could propose fresh ideas. Starting out with a small staff, Bohr’s institute soon accomplished those goals to the highest degree.
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Already in his 1913 trilogy, Bohr had sought to apply his theory to the understanding of the periodic table of elements. He improved upon that aspect of his work into the early 1920s, by which time he had developed an elaborate scheme building up the periodic table by adding electrons one after another to the atom according to his atomic model. Whe...
- Finn Aaserud
Apr 2, 2014 · Niels Bohr was born on October 7, 1885, in Copenhagen, Denmark, to mother Ellen Adler, who was part of a successful Jewish banking clan, and father Christian Bohr, a celebrated physiology academic.
Aug 29, 2017 · Niels Bohr was one of the foremost scientists of modern physics, best known for his substantial contributions to quantum theory and his Nobel Prize -winning research on the structure of atoms ...
- Elizabeth Peterson
Mar 5, 2024 · Bohr model, description of the structure of atoms proposed in 1913 by the Danish physicist Niels Bohr. The Bohr model of the atom, a radical departure from earlier, classical descriptions, was the first that incorporated quantum theory and was the predecessor of wholly quantum-mechanical models.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Niels Bohr, (born Oct. 7, 1885, Copenhagen, Den.—died Nov. 18, 1962, Copenhagen), Danish physicist. He studied the structure of the atom with J.J. Thomson and Ernest Rutherford at the universities of Cambridge and Manchester. He was among the first to see the importance of an element’s atomic number and postulated that any atom could exist ...
Niels Henrik David Bohr. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1922. Born: 7 October 1885, Copenhagen, Denmark. Died: 18 November 1962, Copenhagen, Denmark. Affiliation at the time of the award: Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark. Prize motivation: “for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating ...
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