Great Physicists: Niels Bohr, the Father of Atomic Physics

The Danish physicist is one of the most prominent figures at the beginning of the 20th century. This video provides a view on his accomplishments from the perspective of natural philosophy.
Apologies again for the audio problems - the little mic didn't work most of the time.

[jimmypk]

Never mind the audio, we are very lucky to have someone of your caliber educate us.
Greetings from Pakistan

[EtherDais]

Please keep doing this, Herr Unzicker. We cannot make progress until we understand what has good foundation and what does not

[qibingsia]

The insight of Bohr that strikes me the most is how unique he is compared to other physicists at that time, he wasn't afraid of raising the right questions, and that requires courage and a lot of taking up as being the "devil's advocate" so to speak, he seems to me like a contemporary Socrates. Anyways, thanks for the talk, its informative and interesting.

[noahmorton]

Great video I hope you continue this series with some more great physicists

[nehakulkarni]

Fantastic Danish physicist and Nobel laureate Niels Bohr (1885-1962), was fascinated with Vedas.
His remark “I go into the Upanishads to ask questions.”

[rayoflight]

I have great respect for Niels Bohr, for his clear mind on the state of physics and all the clear limitations of our methodologies.
He defined the measurement as "An Human Act".
And I like what Heisenberg once said: "Complementarity is like having two different sets of obligations, never to be reconciled, toward two persons with opposed interests".
A measurement is an interaction between Space and Time, and it is subject to complementarity.
General Relativity is a narrow window on the spacetime processes, not wide enough to observe the Universe and minimise (or temporarily set aside) complementarity at the same time.

Thanks for the video on Bohr!
Regards,
Anthony

[bjorn]

45 years ago I was playing though your father´s chess games - now I am listening to your great overview over physics!

[clydeblair]

One doesn't have to be a physicist to appreciate your explanations. It's a gift. Thank you.

[MrFlaviojosefus]

Absolutely right! Physics is missing deep thinkers like Niels Bohr.

[clydeblair]

"For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." Einstein

[ericephemetherson]

Erwin schrodinger did not like this idea of Bohr's electron jumps that he said that if all these jumps were a part of physics I was working on I would never have gotten in the field of quantum mechanics in my life. Schrodinger's idea actually explains the atom because Schodinger said that electrons travel in waves and one cannot determine the exact position of it. And I would agree with that because in order for an electron to jump orbits it would have to take time and it seems like they do it instantaneously.

[calvinjackson]

No matter what anybody say about Einstein or Bohr, to me they will always be great men. I will always admire what they accomplished and there is nobody alive wearing flesh is qualified be their judge!

[douglasstrother]

I find it interesting that Planck was working on an Engineering problem of designing a more efficient litghtbulb that inspired him to invent the Quantum, with the hope that he could make his little constant go away.

Einstein, Bohr and others picked it up and ran with it!

Einstein used it to explain the Photoelectric Effect.

Bohr (and Debroglie) used it to explain discrete electron orbits; then Bohr stated the Copenhagen Interpretation which Einstein didn't like!

Very interesting.

[mikealexander]

Another view if Bohr comes from George Gamow's poem about Ernest Rutherford's temper.

that handsome, hearty British lord
We knew as Ernest Rutherford.
New Zealand's farmer's son by birth,
He never lost the touch of earth;
His booming voice and jolly roar
Could penetrate the thickest door,
But if to anger he inclined
You should have heard him speak his mind
In living language of the land
That anyone could understand!

One day George Gamow, as his guest
By Rutherford was so addressed
At tea in honour of Niels Bohr
(Of whom you may have heard before).
The men talked golf, and cricket too;
The ladies gushed, as ladies do,
About a blouse, a sash, a shawl
And Bohr grew weary of it all.
"Gamow, " he said, "I see below
Your motorcycle. You will show
Me how it works? Come on, let's run!
This party isn't any fun."

So to the motorcycle Bohr,
With Gamow running after, tore.
Gamow explained the this and that
And Bohr, who on the saddle sat,
Took off to skim along the Backs,
A threat to humans, beasts and hacks,
But though he started full and strong
He didn't sit it out for long.
No less than fifty yards ahead
He killed the engine dead
And turning wildly as he slowed
Stopped traffic up and down Queen's Road.
While Gamow rushing to the fore,
Was doing what he could for Bohr
Who should like Jove himself appear
But Rutherford. In Gamow's ear
He thundered: "Gamow! If once more
You give that buggy to Niels Bohr
To snarl up traffic with, or wreck,
I swear I'll break your bloody neck."

[Satyagraha-qlpf]

I'd love to see a discussion between you and Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder (who has a channel here). I have your book, and am reading her's "Lost in Math". Any chance?

[rineric]

Leo Szilard and Lise Meindtner (sp?) deserve to be given credit where credit is due.

[BlueGiant]

Thank you Dr. Unzicker for sharing your impressions of Niels Bohr. I didn't like the gossip regarding Bohr's talking. Maybe he needed to think out loud or it was just something he was accustomed to or it was a defensive mechanism of some type. He was human. At least you don't idolize him. I would have preferred to have heard more about how the cluster of jigsaw pieces Bohr put together (without doubt a feat of genius) did not fit in well with the already put together clusters such as Maxwell-Lorentz Electromagnetism and Newtonian Mechanics.

[smAshomAsh]

<shuts up for once> ...a lesson learned from Bohr. 😃 J.k. that's encouragement!

[caesare]

May I suggest to improve the quality of the audio and diction, the exact words are not clearly pronounced and this makes it hard to follow the interesting presentation. Sorry to be critical, but it is all in an effort to make the divulgation of science and your channel better propagated in this precios media. Thanks for your efforts.

[madansharma]

This video should be a part of syllabus for high school students. Please improve the quality of sub-titles.