Date context
1885–1962
Studies in Copenhagen and Britain
After completing his doctorate in Copenhagen, Bohr worked in Britain, first with J. J. Thomson and then with Rutherford in Manchester. The nuclear atom raised questions about stability and the restricted frequencies of emitted light, problems that shaped his theoretical investigation.
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The quantum atom of 1913
His 1913 papers introduced stationary states and transition conditions, relating emission and absorption to energy differences and explaining regularities in hydrogen’s spectrum. The model retained parts of a classical orbital picture and represented a stage toward, rather than the completion of, modern quantum mechanics.
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Building an international research centre
Bohr became a professor at Copenhagen in 1916 and raised funds for an Institute for Theoretical Physics, inaugurated in 1921. It provided a place for international discussion, calculations and experiments and was later officially named after him.
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Recognition and theoretical debate
The 1922 Nobel Prize in physics recognized his investigations of atomic structure and radiation. As quantum mechanics developed during the 1920s, Bohr remained involved in discussions of measurement and interpretation. His contribution combined a physical model, institutional work and sustained scientific exchange.