One of the leading figures of modern science, Danish physicist Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885–1962) was born on this day in Copenhagen, studied at the University of Copenhagen, and later became a professor there.

“If an idea does not appear bizarre, there is no hope for it,” he once said — a smile toward the creative leaps science requires.

In 1912, Bohr moved to England to work with Nobel Prize–winning physicist Ernest Rutherford, deepening humanity’s understanding of the atom. Their research joined early quantum theory with atomic structure, revealing a dense nucleus surrounded by electrons in distinct orbits.

“When it comes to atoms,” Bohr said, “language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images.”

Bohr is renowned for his friendly debates with Albert Einstein over the meaning of quantum theory. “Not often in life has a man given me so much happiness by his mere presence as you have done,” Einstein wrote. “I have learned much from you, mainly from your sensitive approach to scientific problems.”

Awarded the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics for his model of the atom, Bohr later advised the wartime research in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and after the war lobbied for peaceful atomic policies. “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future,” he quipped with gentle humility.

About the shock of new ideas he observed: “Anyone who is not dizzy after his first acquaintance with the quantum of action has not understood a word.”

In Bohr’s wisdom we glimpse not only the structure of the atom, but the boundless reach of the human spirit. His vision reminds us that science is more than discovery — it is wonder, curiosity, and light for the heart.