Who was Niels Bohr?

New Delhi: To mark the 127th birthday of Niels Bohr, Google today posted a doodle on its homepage. But who was was Niels Bohr?

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1922 "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them". Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885. His father, Christian Bohr was a Professor of Physiology at Copenhagen University.

Earlier in 1910, Niels Bohr had met Margrethe Norlund, sister of the mathematician Niels Erik Norlund. They tied the know in Copenhagen in 1912. In 1922, Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1927, Heisenberg developed his uncertainty principle, while working on the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics.

During World War II Bohr, fearing arrest by the Germans, escaped to Britain from where he went to the US to work on the Manhattan Project at the Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico. The Manhattan Project lead to the development of the first atom bomb.

Following the war Bohr returned to Copenhagen. He continued to preach the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Niels Bohr died in Copenhagen on November 18, 1962. His son, Aage Bohr, was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975.

The Niels Bohr 127th birthday Google doodle showcases his contributions to science and shows the Bohr atomic model. This model introduced by Bohr in 1913, was a radical departure from earlier descriptions of the atom and showed the atom as one with a small nucleus surrounded by electrons that travel in circular orbits in a structure similar to the solar system, with electrostatic forces providing attraction, not gravity.