![]() That model had since been superseded by the work of Ernest Rutherford, who discovered the existence of the atomic nucleus in 1911, effectively disproving Thomson’s earlier model. Thomson, who years earlier had discovered the electron, and proposed the “plum pudding” model of an atom, in which the atom is composed of electrons (which Thomson called “corpuscles”) surrounded by a soup of positive charge to balance the electrons’ negative charges, like negatively-charged “plums” surrounded by positively-charged “pudding.” While a postdoctoral student at Cambridge University, Bohr worked with the legendary J.J. Encouraged by this early success, he switched his focus to physics, earning his doctorate in 1911, writing his thesis on a theoretical explanation of the properties of metals. ![]() Using his father’s laboratory, he experimented with the properties of surface tension, producing an essay about his findings that won the top prize. (Harald was a member of the 1908 Danish Olympic team that won the silver medal in that year’s competition, and went on to become a renowned mathematician.)īohr initially chose to study philosophy and mathematics at the University of Copenhagen, but in 1905 he heard about a physics competition by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, and took on the challenge. Young Niels was encouraged to pursue his interest in science from a young age, and shared an enthusiasm for soccer with his older brother, Harald. Less well known to the public is the man who developed it: Niels Bohr.īorn in Copenhagen in 1885, Bohr was the son of Christian Bohr, a professor of physiology at the University of Copenhagen, and Ellen Adler Bohr, who hailed from a prominent banking and political family in Denmark. ![]() It is featured in the logo of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, for example, and marks the change of scenes on the hit TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The classic diagram of the atom depicts a small nucleus and an electron circling around it in a fixed orbit, and has become a powerful symbol in the public imagination.
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