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He shapped Quantum Physics
10 September 2012, 18:00 PM
Niels Henrik David BohrNiels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist, who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. He was born in born in October 07, 1885.
In 1903, Bohr enrolled as an undergraduate at Copenhagen University, initially studying philosophy and mathematics. In 1905, prompted by a gold medal competition sponsored by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, he conducted a series of experiments to examine the properties of surface tension, using his father's laboratory in the university, familiar to him from assisting there since childhood. His essay won the prize, and it was this success that influenced Bohr to abandon philosophy and adopt physics. He continued as a graduate student at the University of Copenhagen, under the physicist Christian Christiansen, receiving his doctorate in 1911.
He mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in Copenhagen. He was also a passionate footballer, and he played a number of matches for the Copenhagen-based Akademisk Boldklub. He was part of the British team of physicists working on the Manhattan Project. Bohr married Margrethe Norlund in 1912, and one of their sons, Aage Bohr, grew up to be an important physicist who in 1975 also received the Nobel Prize. David Bohr has been described as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century.
David Bohr died in November 18, 1962.
Source: Wikipedia
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