Bohr began attending Copenhagen University in 1903. Besides studying physics, he was a member of the Copenhagen soccer team. He was good at soccer, but not as good as his brother, who helped the Danish soccer team win a silver medal at the 1908 Olympics. bohr got his Masters degree in physics in 1909, and went on to receive his doctorate in 1911. He then went on to study at Cambridge with Sir J.J. Thomson, who had discovered the atom 15 years earlier. Unfortunately, his ideas conflicted with those of Thomson and he soon decided to move to Manchester in 1912 to study under Ernest Rutherford.
In 1913, Bohr published his first theory on the structure of the atom. This was an extensiion of Rutherford's theory, which said that electrons orbited the nucleus of an atom. Bohr's theory stated that these electrons occupied strict energy levels within the atom. Other physiciists eventually expanded this theory into quantum mechanics.
Bohr married Margrethe Norlund in 1912. The two had six sons, one of whom, Aage, followed his father's footsteps into physics and eventually won his own Nobel Prize in 1975.
In 1916, Bohr became a physics professor at the university where he had gotten his degree. In 1920, the Niels Bohr Institute was opened at the University of Copenhagen. this institute was sponsored by the carlsberg brewery and would be directed by Bohr for the remainder of his life. In 1922, Bohr received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on atomic structure. This is what Bohr is best known for. All chemistry students learn about his theory of electron placement. Bohr also had many other theories that he put forward are not as well known, including the theory of the nucleus of an atom existing as a liquid drop. He is also well known for his description of the periodic table of the elements.
Bohr became a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1926 and was awarded the Royal Society Copley medal in 1938. Bohr was Jewish and had to flee Denmark when the Nazis occupied it in 1943. He and his family escaped to Norway on a fishing boat and he and his son Aage were flown from there to England. The two then flew to the United States to aid in the Manhattan Project, set up by the US to develop the atomic bomb. Bohr aided in the war effort in many ways. He feared that his colleagues would not be safe, so he set up a place for Jewish scientists to work and live, away from the harm of the Nazis. He also donated his Nobel medal to the Finnish people to aid in their war effort.
Despite his contributions to the development of the atomic bomb, bohr cared a great deal for humanity. He had many doubts about the consequences of the atomic bomb and knew what would happen if an atomic bomb were to ever be dropped on a city. He wished to share the information of the atomic bomb with Soviet Union, which angered Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Ironically, after WWII, Bohr was a very strong promoter of arms control, including that of nuclear weapons. He returned to Copenhagen and concentrated his efforts on finding a peaceful use for atomic energy. Bohr wrote a public letter to the United Nations in 1950 arguing for rational, peaceful atomic policies, and went on to organize the Atoms for Peace Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. He was also the recipient of the first Atoms for Peace award in 1957.
Bohr made many contributions to the world in the fields of chemistry and physics and is a well-known figure all over the world. These contributions have led to increasing knowledge of many things, as well as other breakthroughs in science. Although Bohr had spent so much time forming his theories, he still had many friends inside and outside the field of science. He was good friends with some very famous scientists, including Albert Einstein. He was, and still is, a very important figure in the eyes of scientists.
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