Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohrwas a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research...
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth7 October 1885
CityCopenhagen, Denmark
serious subjects jokes
Some subjects are so serious that one can only joke about them.
enough polite
It is not enough to be wrong, one must also be polite.
science understanding selfless
Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.
play statistics degrees
We are trapped by language to such a degree that every attempt to formulate insight is a play on words.
science firsts physics
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
truth science opposites
The opposite of a fact is falsehood, but the opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.
opposites ideas great-idea
The opposite of every great idea is another great idea.
country wall believe
A visitor to Niels Bohr's country cottage, noticing a horseshoe hanging on the wall, teasing the eminent scientist about this ancient superstition. "Can it be true that you, of all people, believe it will bring you luck?' 'Of course not,' replied Bohr, 'but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe it or not.'
people copenhagen experiments
You must come to Copenhagen to work with us. We like people who can actually perform thought experiments!
atoms language used
When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.
thinking addresses logical
Address to Albert Einstein: You are not thinking. You are merely being logical.
interaction-with-others materials particles
Isolated material particles are abstractions, their properties being definable and observable only through their interaction with other systems .
curves vices rising
All rising curves that show unwelcome trends in human affairs will approach infinity if extended far enough, but it is we who dictate the curve and not vice versa.
simple years light
The great extension of our experience in recent years has brought light to the insufficiency of our simple mechanical conceptions and, as a consequence, has shaken the foundation on which the customary interpretation of observation was based.