Historical Figure
Niels Bohr
1885–1962
Danish theoretical physicist (1885–1962)
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Biography
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. He was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
In Their Own Words (5)
We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question that divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.
Said to Wolfgang Pauli after his presentation of Heisenberg's and Pauli's nonlinear field theory of elementary particles, at Columbia University (1958), as reported by F. J. Dyson in his paper "Innovation in Physics" (Scientific American, 199, No. 3, September 1958, pp. 74-82; reprinted in "JingShin Theoretical Physics Symposium in Honor of Professor Ta-You Wu," edited by Jong-Ping Hsu & Leonardo Hsu, Singapore; River Edge, NJ: World Scientific, 1998, pp. 73-90, here: p. 84). , 1958
Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.
As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) by Alan L. Mackay, p. 35 , 1991
No, no, you are not thinking, you are just being logical.
In response to those who made purely formal or mathematical arguments, as quoted in What Little I Remember (1979) by Otto Robert Frisch, p. 95 , 1979
Even the mathematical framework helps nothing, I would first like to understand how Nature avoids the contradictions. (1927)
Quoted in Werner Heisenberg: Die Sprache der Atome (2010) by H. Rechenberg, p. 564. , 1927
Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.
As quoted in Meeting the Universe Halfway (2007) by Karen Michelle Barad, p. 254, with a footnote citing The Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr (1998). , 2007
Timeline
The story of Niels Bohr, told in moments.
Publishes three papers in Philosophical Magazine. They become known simply as "the trilogy." He merges Rutherford's nuclear atom with Planck's quantum theory. Einstein calls the model "the highest form of musicality in the sphere of thought." Bohr is 27.
Wins the Nobel Prize in Physics. That same year, his institute team discovers element 72 in Copenhagen. They name it hafnium, after the city's Latin name. A French chemist had claimed to find it first. He was wrong.
Werner Heisenberg, his former student, visits him in occupied Copenhagen. Heisenberg now leads Germany's nuclear weapons project. What they discuss remains disputed for decades. Both men give different accounts. Neither account satisfies anyone.
Word reaches him that the Nazis plan to arrest him. He flees to Sweden by fishing boat, then gets flown to Britain in the empty bomb bay of a Mosquito aircraft. His earphones don't fit. He passes out from lack of oxygen at altitude. The pilot dives to save him. He wakes up in Scotland.
Dies of heart failure at 77 in his home at the Carlsberg mansion in Copenhagen. A half-finished drawing of the "boiling liquid" thought experiment sits on his blackboard. Element 107, synthesized in 1981, is named bohrium in his honor.
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