Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr, the 1922 Nobel Prize Winner in physics, was born in Copenhagen in 1885.

While at Copenhagen University, Bohr calculated the basics of atomic structure and went on to formulate the principle of atomic fission, crucial to the development of the atom bomb. He won the Nobel Prize for his work of explaining the periodic system of elements, and how it relates to the atomic structure.

Bohr was one of the thousands of Jews who escaped Nazi occupation in 1943, travelling via Sweden to the US. While in exile there, he worked together with Einstein, among others, on the construction of the first atom bomb, though he later campaigned against its use, publishing an open letter to the United Nations in 1950 asking for international co-operation on nuclear weapon development.

Niels Bohr is buried at Assistens Kirkegaard.

The Niels Bohr Institute