Niels Henrik David Bohr, 1922 Nobel Laureate in Physics (A Meditation)

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Abortion's Handmaid: The Depersonalized World of Dianna Murphy http://www.docsociety.org/documents/Abortion%27s_Handmaid.pdf இڿڰۣ-ڰۣ—— Niels Henrik David Bohr (7 October 1885 -- 18 November 1962) 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. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in Copenhagen. He was part of a team of physicists working on the Manhattan Project. Bohr married Margrethe Nørlund in 1912, and one of their sons, Aage Bohr, grew up to be an important physicist who in 1975 also received the Nobel Prize. Bohr has been described as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1885. His father, Christian Bohr, was professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen (it is his name which is given to the Bohr shift or Bohr effect), while his mother, Ellen Adler Bohr, came from a wealthy Jewish family prominent in Danish banking and parliamentary circles. His brother was Harald Bohr, a mathematician and Olympic footballer who played on the Danish national team. Niels Bohr was a passionate footballer as well, and the two brothers played a number of matches for the Copenhagen-based Akademisk Boldklub, with Niels in goal. 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 decided 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. As a post-doctoral student, Bohr first conducted experiments under J. J. Thomson, of Trinity College, Cambridge and Cavendish Laboratory. In 1912 he met and later joined Ernest Rutherford at Manchester University, where on and off he spent four fruitful years in association with the older physics professor. In 1916, Bohr returned permanently to the University of Copenhagen, where he was appointed to the Chair of Theoretical Physics, a position created especially for him. In 1918 he began efforts to establish the University Institute of Theoretical Physics, which he later directed. Earlier in 1910 Bohr had met Margrethe Nørlund, sister of the mathematician Niels Erik Nørlund. They were married in Copenhagen in 1912. Of their six sons, the oldest died in a boating accident and another died from childhood meningitis. The others went on to lead successful lives, including Aage Bohr, who became a very successful physicist and, like his father, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, in 1975. His other sons were Hans Henrik, a physician, Erik, a chemical engineer, and Ernest, a lawyer. In September 1943, reliable word reached Bohr about his imminent arrest by the German police; the Danish resistance quickly managed to help Bohr and his wife escape by sea to Sweden. Soon after, Bohr was flown in a military aircraft to Britain. There he was introduced to the then-secret atomic bomb project (see Political Activities section below for greater detail). Eventually he was directed to the project's principal location in the United States of America. Bohr worked on the Manhattan Project at the top-secret Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico, where he was known by the name of Nicholas Baker for security reasons. His role on the project was as the knowledgeable consultant or "father confessor". He often expressed social concern about such weaponry and an eventual nuclear arms race, and is quoted as saying, "That is why I went to America. They didn't need my help in making the atom bomb." Bohr believed that atomic secrets should be shared by the international scientific community. After meeting with Bohr, J. Robert Oppenheimer suggested that Bohr visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt to convince him that the Manhattan Project should be shared with the Russians in the hope of speeding up its results. Roosevelt suggested that Bohr return to the United Kingdom to try to win British approval. Winston Churchill disagreed with the idea of openness towards the Russians to the point that he wrote in a letter: "It seems to me Bohr ought to be confined or at any rate made to see that he is very near the edge of mortal crimes." *** Prayer and Torah study groups will continue to be held around the world in the merit of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin and his family.