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Details of scientist:

Name: Niels Bohr

Place of Birth: Copenhagen, Denmark

Date of Birth: 7th October 1885

Death: 18th November 1962

Type of work:

Dr Niels Bohr worked in the field of physics and chemistry, despite initially studying philosophy
and mathematics. He was the director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics which he founded
in 1921 and received the Nobel Prize in Physics a year later. While he was still a student, there
was an announcement by the Academy of Sciences in Copenhagen of a prize to be awarded for
the solution of a certain scientific problem, caused him to take up an experimental and
theoretical investigation of the surface tension by means of oscillating fluid jets. He carried out
the experiment in his father͛s laboratory and eventually won a gold medal as his prize. This was
what spurred him on to take up studies in the field of physics. His work revolved around
structures of atoms, which won him the Nobel Prize, the constitution of the atomic nuclei, and
of their transmutations and disintegrations, and he also showed some interest to molecular
biology in the few last years of his life.

Contribution to understanding of the structure of the atom:

After carrying out a theoretical piece of work on the absorption of alpha rays, Dr Niels Bohr
moved on to a study of the structure of atoms on the basis of Ernest Rutherford's discovery of
the atomic nucleus. By introducing conceptions borrowed from the Quantum Theory as
established by Max Planck, he succeeded in working out and presenting a picture of atomic
structure that, with later improvements (mainly as a result of Heisenberg's ideas in 1925), still
fitly serves as an elucidation of the physical and chemical properties of the elements. According
to Bohn, a liquid drop would give a very good picture of the atomic nucleus. This so-called liquid
droplet theory permitted the understanding of the mechanism of nuclear fission, when the
splitting of uranium was discovered by Hahn and Strassmann, in 1939, and formed the basis of
important theoretical studies in this field.
The technology available to the scientist that enabled him/her to make the discovery:

In Dr Niels Bohr͛s time, there was not much advancement in technology yet, hence all
references that inspired his discoveries were mostly scientific text that were published in the
past. Also, another form of technology that assisted him to make his discoveries was the
advancements and technology and apparatus in the Science laboratories at that time. For
example, the experiments of his first contribution to Science were conducted in his father͛s
laboratories. Other than that, in the autumn of 1911, he also stayed at Cambridge, where he
profited by following the experimental work going on in the Cavendish Laboratory under Sir J.J.
Thomson's guidance, at the same time as he pursued own theoretical studies. In the spring of
1912 he was at work in Professor Rutherford's laboratory in Manchester, where he made
various studies of the structure of atoms on the basis of Rutherford's discovery of the atomic
nucleus.

Relevance of scientist's theory is to today's understanding of the structure of an atom:

Out of his many contributions to Science,|two of them include the Bohr model of the atom,
the theory that electrons travel in discrete orbits around the atom's nucleus, and the shell
model of the atom, where the chemical properties of an element are determined by the
electrons in the outermost orbit. These two models are still crucial even today to our
understanding of an atom. Although we have not studied the structure of an atom so in-
depth yet in the first month of Secondary 2, these two models are still relevant today. Also,
Bohr introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy orbit to a lower
one, emitting aphoton (light quantum) of discrete energy, which formed the basis of
Quantum Theory, hence also contributing to our understanding of the structure of an atom.
Other than these two, I had also mentioned before that in Dr Bohr͛s opinion, liquid drop
would give a very good picture of the nucleus. This so-called liquid droplet theory permitted
the understanding of the mechanism of nuclear fission, when the splitting of uranium was
discovered by Hahn and Strassmann, in 1939. Therefore, we can clearly see that Dr Bohr͛s
͞Liquid Droplet Theory͟ help to allow us to understand nuclear fission more clearly, and is a
contribution to the understanding of the structure of an atom.

References:

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1922/bohr-bio.html

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/nbohr.html