Niels Bohr Atomic Model

The Niels Bohr model is a relatively primitive model of the hydrogen atom, compared to the valence shell atom.

As a theory, Physicist can derived Niels Bohr model as a first-order approximation of the hydrogen atom using the broader and much more accurate quantum mechanics. Thus people considered this theory to be an obsolete scientific theory.

However, because of its simplicity, and its correct results for selected systems, the professor still commonly taught Bohr model to introduce students to quantum mechanics or energy level diagrams before moving on to the more accurate, but more complex, valence shell atom.

Niels Bohr Atomic Theory

It is a system consisting of a small, dense nucleus surrounded by revolving electrons —similar to the structure of the Solar System, but with attraction provided by electrostatic forces rather than gravity.

Niels Bohr Biography

Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 7 October 1885, the second of three children of Christian Bohr, a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen, and Ellen Adler Bohr, who came from a wealthy Danish Jewish family prominent in banking and parliamentary circles.

His parents educated Bohr at Gammelholm Latin School, starting when he was seven.

Niels Bohr Education

In 1903, Niels Bohr enrolled as an undergraduate at Copenhagen University. His major was physics, which he studied under Professor Christian Christiansen, the university’s only professor of physics at that time.

He also studied astronomy and mathematics under Professor Thorvald Thiele. He also studied philosophy under Professor Harald Høffding, a friend of his father.

Niels Bohr Discovery

In 1905, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters sponsored a gold medal competition to investigate a method for measuring the surface tension of liquids that Lord Rayleigh proposed in 1879.

He made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory. For his contribution he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.

He founded the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen in 1920. Bohr mentored and collaborated with physicists including Hans Kramers, Oskar Klein, George de Hevesy, and Werner Heisenberg.

Niels Bohr Quotes

Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.

An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field
Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.