Niels Bohr: Biography And Contributions Of This Danish Physicist
Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who stood out in the field of Atomic Physics with the creation of his atomic model and in Quantum Physics.
In this way he made new contributions to the atomic model first proposed by Ernest Rutherford, adding that electrons were located, in increasing numbers, in orbits around the nucleus.
His studies and work were widely recognized, which earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics and, later, the Franklin Medal in Physics, among other awards and honors.
In this Niels Bohr biography We will see the most notable events in the life of this researcher.
Niels Henrik David Bohr was born on October 7, 1885 in the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen Her parents were Christian Bohr, who was a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen and a follower of Lutheran Christianity, and Ellen Adler who belonged to a Jewish family of bankers and politicians, with a good economic position and linked to Danish banking.
Years of youth and studies
The young Bohr He studied Physics at the University of Copenhagen, the city university where his father was a professor and where he obtained his doctorate in 1911.
With the purpose of continuing his training and given his growing interest in nuclear physics, He moved to England to join the prestigious Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge and thus expand their studies; At this time, the laboratory was directed by the famous chemist Joseph John Thomson, who discovered the electron, a subatomic particle with a negative charge, and was winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906.
But since JJ Thomson did not know how to value Bohr’s work, nor did he show great interest in it, Niels He decided to travel to Manchester and continue his studies at the University of this city On this occasion his teacher and mentor was Ernest Rutherford, a physicist who also won the Nobel Prize (although in this case for Chemistry) and was recognized for discoveries such as the atomic structure or model. His new teacher did know how to value his abilities and studies, thus beginning a relationship that was both professional and friendly between the two.
On the personal, physical level He married his fiancée Margrethe Norlund on August 1, 1912 who was a great collaborator in her husband’s studies and research, performing functions as editor and translator.
The couple had six children, although only four of them would reach the age of majority, and both the youngest and the first-born would die prematurely due to illness and a boat accident, respectively.
The proposal of Bohr’s atomic model
It was Bohr who, To explain Rutherford’s atomic model, he proposed that it used different laws than those of traditional physics presenting in 1913 his model of the structure of the atom, called the Bohr atomic model.
In this model, Bohr proposes the theory of quantum orbits, which presents as the main idea that as the number of orbits increases, that is, as we move away from the nucleus of the atom, the number of electrons in each orbit also increases. .
In the same way that through his atomic model he tried to explain the stability of the work of electrons around the nucleus, he also pointed out another aspect that Rutherford had not taken into account: believed that electrons could fall, go from a more external orbit, further from the nucleus, to a closer or internal one Thus, it would make sense that photons of energy would be emitted when this occurs.
The founding of the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics
Without breaking his friendship with Rutherford, in 1916 he returned to his hometown to work as a professor at the University of Copenhagen and set out to collect the necessary funds to found the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics, in which, as the name, focuses on research in theoretical physics.
Given his growing popularity and international recognition for his studies, Bohr was able to obtain the necessary subsidies, occupying the position of director of the Nordic Institute in 1921 until the day of his death.
The Institute of Theoretical Physics created by Bohr was one of the most important of the time in the study of atomic physics together with those of the Universities of Munich and Göttingen.
A year after taking the position of director, in 1922, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of his studies and research in the field of atomic physics and radiation and in 1926 he would be awarded the Franklin Medal for Physics.
The same year that he won the Nobel Prize, his son Aage Niels Bohr was born, who was trained and also stood out in the field of Physics He followed in his father’s footsteps by earning a doctorate in Physics, serving as a professor at the University of Copenhagen and replacing his father as director of the Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics. He also managed to be recognized, winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975.
Research after the Nobel Prize
Niels Bohr’s studies continued to focus on atoms and quantum mechanics, proposing the principle of correspondence in 1923, later adding, in 1928, the principle of complementarity with the purpose of explaining some phenomena of quantum mechanics that at first seemed contradictory.
During the 1930s he traveled repeatedly to the United States to publicize nuclear fission and it was also during this period of time when, together with physicist John Archibald Wheeler, he stated, based on the research they carried out, that both plutonium and uranium could fission.
They were also known the debates he had with the well-known physicist Albert Einstein regarding the laws of Relativity and Quantum Physics Despite their differences, Einstein stated that Bohr was one of the greatest scientific researchers at that time.
Upon returning from his stay in the United States, he settled in Copenhagen, where he continued his work as a professor and his research and was named president of the Royal Danish Academy of Science.
Development of research on atomic physics in the context of war
In 1941 he again contacted Werner Heinsenberg, who had been a student of Borh. Heisenberg was interested in researching nuclear technology, although he did not want to use it for military purposes. Werner would end up being the leader of the atomic bomb project in Germany
Given the growing restrictions and advance of the Nazis, and because of the link that Bohr had with the Jews (since his mother belonged to a Jewish family), in September 1943 he decided with his wife and children to flee to Switzerland, traveling the month next to London and finally went to live in the United States. It would be in this country where he would collaborate in the manufacture of the first atomic bomb, research that received the name of the Manhattan Project
His life after World War II
After the Second World War, in 1945 Niels Bohr returned to Copenhagen, thus beginning a campaign to raise awareness of the correct use of discoveries made in the nuclear field , influenced by what the atomic bomb meant. Thus between 1948 and 1950 he participated in the Gifford conferences, which were related to Natural Theology.
In 1951 he published and was in charge of disseminating a manifesto signed by more than a hundred recognized scientists with the aim of requesting the commitment of the public powers of use atomic energy for peaceful and non-destructive purposes
Last years of his life
In 1952, he collaborated in the creation in Geneva, Switzerland, of the European Center for Nuclear Research, known by the acronym CERN. Three years later, In 1955 he organized what would be the first Atoms for Peace conference held in Geneva and thus receiving the Atoms of Peace award in 1957 from the Ford Foundation for the purpose of progressing humanity that his scientific research had.
Neils Borh died on November 18, 1862 in his hometown of Copenhagen from heart failure.
