Niels Bohr

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

He married Margrethe Nørlund in a civil ceremony at the Slagelse town hall on 1 August 1912. Margrethe was essential to his work from the beginning: in 1912, Niels wrote, 'I went to the country with my wife and we wrote a very long paper,' sharing credit with her. She transcribed and typed his dictated thoughts, a job his mother had filled before the marriage. Drafts circulated between the two many times, and she insisted he explain his ideas in language understandable to readers. According to son Hans Bohr, 'My mother was the natural and indispensable center…Her opinions were his [father's] guidelines in daily affairs.' The Bohrs had six sons; Harald died at about 10 from meningitis, and Christian drowned at 18 when a storm overtook his boat. Aage Bohr became a celebrated physicist and won the Nobel Prize. During World War II, when German physicist Werner Heisenberg came to Copenhagen in 1941 to urge Bohr to join his research for Germany, Bohr was not convinced. In 1943, the family escaped to Sweden, then to England, returning to Denmark after the war. Niels died in 1962.

Reader's Guide

Niels Bohr's significance is rooted in his foundational contributions to atomic structure and quantum theory. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922. In 1921, he founded the Institute for Theoretical Physics (now the Niels Bohr Institute) at the University of Copenhagen, where the family lived on campus. Margrethe Bohr was a welcome fixture in his work, spending time with his assistants and teammates at the Institute, and later recalling the warmth of the home when young scientists joined them. She collaborated as a sounding board, helping Niels explain concepts in 'plain language.' According to Crease, 'She was not only Bohr's constant companion, she was also his intellectual collaborator, a sounding board who helped him with his letters and essays, and to explain his ideas to himself.... she was very smart.' The play 'Copenhagen' by Michael Frayn dramatizes her role, showing how she pushed both Bohr and Heisenberg to speak about intention and motivation in plain language. After World War II, Bohr returned to Copenhagen to restore and expand his damaged Institute. He died in 1962.

Did You Know?

• Margrethe Bohr transcribed and typed Niels Bohr's dictated thoughts, a job his mother had filled before the marriage.
• The Bohrs had six sons; Harald died at about 10 from meningitis, and Christian drowned at 18 when a storm overtook his boat.
• Niels Bohr wrote in 1912: 'I went to the country with my wife and we wrote a very long paper,' sharing credit with Margrethe.
• Margrethe Bohr insisted that Niels explain his ideas in language understandable to readers, helping him clarify his theories.
• The play 'Copenhagen' by Michael Frayn dramatizes Margrethe's role in Bohr's life, premiering in London in 1998 and winning a Tony Award on Broadway in 2000.