Universal Encyclopedia
Who was Niels Bohr?
Niels Bohr (1885–1962) was the Danish physicist whose 1913 model of the atom — electrons circling the nucleus in fixed shells — explained the structure of matter, opened the first era of quantum theory, and won him the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Last updated: October 2026
Founder of the Copenhagen institute that became the world capital of quantum physics, he spent the 1920s in famous debate with Einstein over what quantum mechanics means — and the 1940s helping, then warning, the atomic age he had made possible.