Albert Einstein much preferred the determinism of classical physics over the probabilistic new physics of Bohr (to which Max Planck and Einstein himself had contributed). Bohr also found philosophical applications for this daringly original principle. For example, physicists currently conclude that light is both a wave and a stream of particles - two apparently mutually exclusive properties - on the basis of this principle.

Bohr's institute served as a focal point for theoretical physicists in the 1920s and '30s, and most of the world's best known theoretical physicists of that period spent some time there.īohr also conceived the principle of complementarity: that items could be separately analyzed as having several contradictory properties. In 1922, Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics 'for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them'. In 1916, Niels Bohr became a professor at the University of Copenhagen, and director of the newly constructed 'Institute of Theoretical Physics' in 1920. Bohr also introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy orbit to a lower one, emitting a photon (light quantum) of discrete energy. On the basis of Rutherford's theories, Bohr published his model of atomic structure in 1913, introducing the theory of electrons traveling in orbits around the atom's nucleus, the chemical properties of the element being largely determined by the number of electrons in the outer orbits. He then studied under Ernest Rutherford in the Victoria University of Manchester in England. Bohr played in goal.īohr was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Cambridge and then received his doctorate from Copenhagen University in 1911 under Christian Christiansen. Niels Bohr was a passionate soccer player as well, and the two brothers played a number of matches for Akademisk Boldklub. His brother was Harald Bohr, a mathematician and Olympic soccer player who played in the Danish national team. His father, Christian Bohr, was professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen, while his mother, Ellen Adler Bohr, came from a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family prominent in Danish banking and parliamentary circles. Niels Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1885. He received the Nobel Prize for Physics for this work in 1922. The principle of complementarity: that items could be separately analyzed as having several contradictory properties.The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.The idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy orbit to a lower one, emitting a photon (light quantum) of discrete energy (this became the basis for quantum theory).The theory that electrons travel in discrete orbits around the atom's nucleus, with the chemical properties of the element being largely determined by the number of electrons in the outer orbits.The electron's orbital angular momentum is quantized L=nħ.AND if they already knew that the electron was small and negative, then the atom must have a small positive nucleus with the electrons around them. If the positive alpha particles mostly passed through the foil, but some bounced back. How could that be if the plumb pudding model was correct? Rutherford's experiment prompted a change in the atomic model.

Rutherford found that most of them went right through the foil. If you shoot these positive alpha particles at this positive pudding atom, they should mostly bounce off, right? Well, that is not what happened. He shot some alpha particles (which are really just the nucleus of a helium atom) at some really thin gold foil. Ernest Rutherford said one day 'hey, I think I will shoot some stuff at atoms.' I am sure his wife said 'oh, Ernie' (she probably called him Ernie) 'if it makes you happy to play with your little physics stuff, go ahead.

Niels bohr atomic model date