Scribd
Upload
92 views12 pages

Netflix (Niels Bohr)

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory. He developed the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons orbit the nucleus in discrete energy levels. Bohr introduced the concept that electrons could drop between discrete energy levels, emitting or absorbing quanta of energy. This helped establish the foundations of quantum mechanics. Bohr was also influential as a philosopher of physics, emphasizing that quantum phenomena cannot be explained purely through classical concepts and language.

Uploaded by

Mico Dasilva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
92 views12 pages

Netflix (Niels Bohr)

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory. He developed the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons orbit the nucleus in discrete energy levels. Bohr introduced the concept that electrons could drop between discrete energy levels, emitting or absorbing quanta of energy. This helped establish the foundations of quantum mechanics. Bohr was also influential as a philosopher of physics, emphasizing that quantum phenomena cannot be explained purely through classical concepts and language.

Uploaded by

Mico Dasilva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 12

Who’s reporting?

Michael Add Others


Angelo

exit
99% Match 2021 18+ 5 Subtopics

We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be


used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned
with describing facts as with creating images and establishing
mental connections.

Top 5 Subtopics

1 2 3 4 5
REPORTER 1

99% Match 2021 18+


Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885, as the
son of Christian Bohr, Professor of Physiology at Copenhagen University, and
his wife Ellen, née Adler. Niels, together with his younger brother Harald (the
future Professor in Mathematics), grew up in an atmosphere most favourable
to the development of his genius – his father was an eminent physiologist and
was largely responsible for awakening his interest in physics while still at
school, his mother came from a family distinguished in the field of education.
After matriculation at the Gammelholm Grammar School in 1903, he entered
Copenhagen University where he came under the guidance of Professor C.
Christiansen, a profoundly original and highly endowed physicist, and took his
Master’s degree in Physics in 1909 and his Doctor’s degree in 1911.

BA
REPORTER 1

99% Match 2021 18+

He adapted Rutherford's nuclear structure to Max Planck's quantum theory and so


created his Bohr model of the atom.

Planetary models of atoms were not new, but Bohr's treatment was. Taking the
1912 paper by Darwin on the role of electrons in the interaction of alpha particles
with a nucleus as his starting point, he advanced the theory of electrons travelling
in orbits around the atom's nucleus, with the chemical properties of each element
being largely determined by the number of electrons in the outer orbits of its
atoms. He introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy
orbit to a lower one, in the process emitting a quantum of discrete energy. This
became a basis for what is now known as the old quantum theory.
BA
REPORTER 1

99% Match 2021 18+


Heisenberg said of Bohr that he was "primarily a philosopher, not a physicist". Bohr read the 19th-century Danish Christian
existentialist philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. Richard Rhodes argued in The Making of the Atomic Bomb that Bohr was
influenced by Kierkegaard through Høffding. In 1909, Bohr sent his brother Kierkegaard's Stages on Life's Way as a birthday gift.
In the enclosed letter, Bohr wrote, "It is the only thing I have to send home; but I do not believe that it would be very easy to
find anything better ... I even think it is one of the most delightful things I have ever read." Bohr enjoyed Kierkegaard's language
and literary style, but mentioned that he had some disagreement with Kierkegaard's philosophy. Some of Bohr's biographers
suggested that this disagreement stemmed from Kierkegaard's advocacy of Christianity, while Bohr was an atheist.
There has been some dispute over the extent to which Kierkegaard influenced Bohr's philosophy and science. David Favrholdt
argued that Kierkegaard had minimal influence over Bohr's work, taking Bohr's statement about disagreeing with Kierkegaard at
face value, while Jan Faye argued that one can disagree with the content of a theory while accepting its general premises and
structure. Regarding the nature of physics and quantum mechanics Bohr opined that "There is no quantum world. This is only an
abstract physical description. It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics concerns what we
can say about nature".
BA
REPORTER 1

99% Match 2021 18+


Bohr was aware of the possibility of using uranium-235 to construct an atomic bomb, referring to it in lectures in Britain
and Denmark shortly before and after the war started, but he did not believe that it was technically feasible to extract a
sufficient quantity of uranium-235. In September 1941, Heisenberg, who had become head of the German nuclear energy
project, visited Bohr in Copenhagen. During this meeting the two men took a private moment outside, the content of
which has caused much speculation, as both gave differing accounts. According to Heisenberg, he began to address
nuclear energy, morality and the war, to which Bohr seems to have reacted by terminating the conversation abruptly
while not giving Heisenberg hints about his own opinions.[88] Ivan Supek, one of Heisenberg's students and friends,
claimed that the main subject of the meeting was Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, who had proposed trying to persuade
Bohr to mediate peace between Britain and Germany.

When Bohr saw Jungk's depiction in the Danish translation of the book, he drafted (but never sent) a letter to Heisenberg,
stating that he never understood the purpose of Heisenberg's visit, was shocked by Heisenberg's opinion that Germany
would win the war, and that atomic weapons could be decisive.
BA
REPORTER 1

99% Match 2021 18+

With the war now ended, Bohr returned to Copenhagen on 25 August


1945, and was re-elected President of the Royal Danish Academy of
Arts and Sciences on 21 September. At a memorial meeting of the
Academy on 17 October 1947 for King Christian X, who had died in
April, the new king, Frederick IX, announced that he was conferring
the Order of the Elephant on Bohr. This award was normally awarded
only to royalty and heads of state, but the king said that it honoured
not just Bohr personally, but Danish science. Bohr designed his own
coat of arms which featured a taijitu (symbol of yin and yang) and a
motto in Latin: contraria sunt complementa, "opposites are
complementary".
BA

You might also like