Author: Luc Bergé

The official centenary celebration of the Niels Bohr Institute took place on the morning of the 3rd of March 2022 in Copenhagen City Hall. Invited guests included the Mayor of Copenhagen, the Danish Crown Prince, the Minister of Higher Education and Science of Denmark and no fewer than 5 Nobel laureates in Physics.

The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Niels Bohr Institute and the 100th anniversary of the first Danish Nobel Prize in Physics - awarded to Niels Bohr in 1922 – allowed the organisers to pay tribute to Niels Bohr and his legacy. Niels Bohr's atomic model from 1913 was fundamental for the development of quantum theory. Soon after its founding in 1921, the Niels Bohr Institute became one of the world's major centres for physics research. Scientists from around the world collaborated in a unique research community that created the basis for significant advances with a new understanding of quantum mechanics in the 1920s and the origins of nuclear physics in the 1930s.

Luc Bergé, President of the EPS, was invited to this celebration that paid tribute to Niels Bohr's life, work, and legacy, and where the different speakers, politicians or scientists, increased the public awareness of the contributions of physics to our society, and its role in meeting the challenges of the future. He recalled that the EPS declared the Niels Bohr Institute as an EPS Historic Site with great international importance for developments in physics and research in 2013. Since science is a fundamental part of our culture, the EPS has declared particularly important sites as a "Historic Sites" for science. The Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen was selected on this basis: "This is where the foundation of atomic physics and modern physics were created in a creative scientific environment inspired by Niels Bohr in the 1920s and 1930s.

During the official celebration at Copenhagen City Hall, Tomas Bohr, Niels Bohr’s grandson and Aage Bohr’s son, recalled 100 years of physics at the Niels Bohr Institute while reporting touching anecdotes and photos about his family life. The Niels Bohr Institute hosted four Nobel laureates. Niels Bohr won the Nobel Prize in 1922 for his pioneering model of the atom, George de Hevesy received the Nobel Prize in 1943 for his pioneering work in nuclear medicine, and in 1975 Aage Bohr and Ben Mottelson received the Nobel Prize for their model of the structure of the atomic nucleus.

Complete information about the Niels Bohr celebrations in 2022 can be found here: https://nbi.ku.dk/english/about/nbi-celebrations-2022/

The Niels Bohr Institute at Blegdamsvej in Copenhagen (image: Niels Bohr Institute)

The official celebration of the Niels Bohr Institute held at Copenhagen City Hall included three Nobel prize winners: Sheldon Glashow (1979, 1st from the left), Gerard ‘t Hooft (1999, 3rd from the left),  Klaus von Klitzing (1985, 3rd from the right). Maria Leptin (President of the European Research Council, 2nd from the right) and Luc Bergé (EPS President, 1st from the right) were also invited to the celebrations.