NIELS BOHR

Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885. His father was Christian Bohr, Professor of Physiology at Copenhagen University, and his mother was Ellen, née Adler. Niels. He grew up in an environment that sparked his interest in physics while he was still in school.
His father was a physiologist; his mother came from a family distinguished in the field of education.

Professor Bohr got married in 1912,to Margrethe Nørlund. They had six sons. Two of them died. The others made distinguished careers in various professions - Hans Henrik (M.D.), Erik (chemical engineer), Aage (Ph.D., theoretical physicist, following his father as Director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics), Ernest (lawyer).

In 1903, he started Copenhagen University. He was taught by Professor C. Christiansen, a highly intelligent physicist. Mr. Bohr received his Master’s degree in Physics in 1909 and his Doctor’s degree in 1911.

While he was still in school, the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen offered a prize to the person who could solve a certain scientific problem. This led to his interest in the experimental and theoretical investigation of the surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets. He won the prize (a gold medal), he worked on the experiment in his father’s laboratory. And it was also published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, 1908.

Bohr's studies following this became more and more theoretical in character. His explanation of the properties of the metals with the aid of the electron theory to this day still remains a classic on the subject. Bohr was first confronted with the implications of Planck's quantum theory of radiation on this particular study.

Now that he had carried out a theoretical piece of work on the absorption of alpha rays which was published in the Philosophical Magazine, 1913, he passed on to a study of the structure of atoms on the basis of Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus. By using concepts borrowed from the Quantum Theory he found a way to work out and present a picture of atomic structure that, with later improvements (a result of Heisenberg's ideas in 1925), still serves as a piece of the physical and chemical properties of the elements.

In 1913-1914 Bohr held a Lectureship in Physics at Copenhagen University and in 1914-1916 at the Victoria University in Manchester. In 1916 he was given the