An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made,
in a very narrow field.
When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The
poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with
creating images.
There are some things so serious you have to laugh at them.
It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how
Nature is. Physics concerns what we say about Nature.
Niels closed most public speeches with stories to end on a humorous
note but that further drove his point home: "One of our neighbors in
Tisvilde once fixed a horseshoe over the door to his house. When a
common friend asked him, `But are you really superstitious? Do you
honestly believe that this horseshoe will bring you luck?' he
replied, `Of course not; but they say it works even if you don't
believe in it.'"
Why Evokateur...
Lived, worked, and died in Copenhagen Denmark. Nobel Prize for
Physics in 1922. Donated his gold Nobel medal to the Finnish war
effort . After German occupation of Denmark, and because he was
Jewish and because he refused to do research for Germany, he traveled
to Los Alamos, New Mexico to advise the scientists developing the first
atomic bomb (US Manhattan Project) . He returned to Copenhagen after
the war.
Why Visionary...
Personal warmth. An excellent administrator. Many of Bohr's
collaborators in those years have written lovingly about the
extraordinary spirit of the (Bohr) institute, where young scientists
from many countries worked together and played together in a
lighthearted mood that concealed both their absolutely serious
concern with physics and the darkening world outside. "Even Bohr,"
wrote H.B.G. Casimir, one of the liveliest of the group, "who
concentrated more intensely and had more staying power than any of
us, looked for relaxation in crossword puzzles, in sports, and in
facetious discussions."
Interesting note:
Married and had six sons, (4 lived) one of whom, Aage, followed his
father into physicsand into the ranks of Nobel
Prize-winners.
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