Niels Bohr - Collected Works – serie

Part I is devoted to Niels Bohr's mission to promote an "open world" between nations, that is, full sharing of information in the scientific and technical, as well as in the cultural spheres the scientific and technical, as well as in the cultural spheres. He started his mission immediately upon escaping from Nazi-occupied Denmark in the autumn of 1943, when he realized that the bomb was on the way to becoming a reality. As he wrote in 1944, he considered that the existence of the atomic bomb "would not only seem to necessitate but should also, due to the urgency of mutual confidence, facilitate" the realization of an open world. During the Second World War, while being actively involved in the Allied atomic bomb project, Bohr was able to obtain access to Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt to promote his view. After the war he continued his confidential approaches to the statesmen while publishing more generally oriented articles on the issue.Although Bohr put in as much work in appeals to the statesmen as in his other writings, they were not intended for publication. This has called for the inclusion of a greater number than in earlier volumes of the Collected Works of previously unpublished documents as well as a particularly extensive historical introduction written by the editor. The material adds up to a fascinating sotry of the political dedication and social responsibility ofone of the major scientists of the twentieth century.Part II documents Bohr's other social and political activities, such as his long-time presidency in the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and his promotion of the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Taking a broader approach than most of his other publications, these occasional writings, which are most often published versions of talks at public events, are particularly well suited to present Bohr to the general public, as a thinker as well as a person.

* Niels Bohr* Open World* Atomic Bomb Project* Science and Politics* Collected Works* Archival Documents* Original Photographs

The Niels Bohr Collected Works are now complete with the publication of Volume 12, Popularization and People (1911-1962).Niels Bohr is generally regarded as one of the most influential physicists of the twentieth century. The following are only some of the high points. In 1913, Bohr proposed a revolutionary model of the atom breaking with classical conceptions of physics. In 1921, he established the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, which became the centre for the new physics visited by the younger generation of physicists from all over the world. From 1927, he oversaw the development leading to the "Copenhagen interpretation" of quantum mechanics which for Bohr formed the foundation for an epistemology valid beyond physics based on Bohr's complementarity concept. In 1939, he explained the mechanism of nuclear fission. Finally, from 1943 until the end of his life in 1962, he carried out a personal political mission to establish an open world between nations which he considered to be necessary in view of the existence of the atomic bomb.All these contributions are amply documented in the earlier volumes of the Niels Bohr Collected Works. This last volume documents Niels Bohr as a person and his efforts to explain quantum physics and its implications to physicists and non-physicists alike. While his activity over many years in the area of superconductivity illustrates his striving for synthesis in physics, his encyclopaedia articles and radio speech for Scandinavian gymnasium students document his effort to make quantum physics and its implications understandable to the general public. The bulk of the volume comprises Bohr's many published writings about his predecessors (for example Isaac Newton), teachers and colleagues (for example Ernest Rutherford and Albert Einstein), family and friends. These writings, which include several rare pieces of autobiogaphy, bring new perspectives to Bohr's life and document his substantial social network, both internationally and within his beloved Denmark.In addition to Bohr's publications reproduced in Parts I and II, the volume includes a more brief Part III with selected correspondence, as well as an inventory of relevant manuscripts. It concludes with a bibliography of Bohr's many publications, chronologically arranged with references to where they can be found in the various volumes of the Collected Works. The volume is illustrated with many new photographs.* Niels Bohr * Collected Works * Archival Documents * Original Photographs

Niels Bohr: Collected Works, Volume 13: Cumulative Subject Index documents aspects of Niels Bohr's varied life and work in the form of a cumulative subject index, with emphasis on his scientific contributions in the field of physics. The general organization of the material is thematic rather than strictly chronological, allowing for the presentation of each paper (or group of papers) along with other relevant material such as drafts, notes, letters, and other items. The book is illustrated with rare photos and includes explanatory notes as well as a bibliography.

The bibliography is restricted to the versions of Bohr's publications reproduced in this volume and encompasses a wide range of topics in physics, from the determination of the surface tension of water by the method of jet vibration to the electron theory of metals and of thermoelectric phenomena; the theory of the decrease of velocity of moving electrified particles on passing through matter; the constitution of atoms and molecules; and the spectra of helium and hydrogen. Bohr's other papers focus on the effect of electric and magnetic fields on spectral lines; the quantum theory of radiation and the structure of the atom; the polarization of radiation in the quantum theory; and collisions between atomic systems and free electrical particles.

This monograph will be useful to students, practitioners, and researchers interested in Bohr's life and work in general and in quantum mechanics in particular.

Volume 7 is a direct continuation of Volume 6, which documented the birth of the complementarity argument and its earliest elaborations. It covers the extension and refinement of the complementarity argument from 1933 until Bohrs' death in 1962. All Bohr's publications on the subject, together with selected manuscripts and extracts of his correspondence with friends and fellow pioneers such as Werner Heisenberg and Wolfgang Pauli, are included.

Divided into two, largely independent parts, the volume begins with Bohr's contributions to "Relativistic Quantum Theory". Together with Léon Rosenfeld, Bohr undertook a thorough investigation of the measuring problem in quantum electrodynamics and demonstrated the full accordance between the formalism and the result of idealized thought experiments.

The articles in the second part, although also restricted in scope to the field of physics, address a broader audience. One of the most impressive treatises is Bohr's own account of his debates with Albert Einstein, over more than twenty years, on the consistency, the completeness and the epistemological consequences of quantum mechanics.

Volumes 6 and 7 of the Collected Works are in turn related to the forthcoming Volume 10 which broadens the scope by presenting Bohr's applications of the complementarity argument beyond the domain of physics. Although each volume may be read independently, careful attention should be paid to the interrelationships between each volume in order to appreciate the subtlety of Bohr's continued elaboration and fine-tuning of his complementarity argument.

This volume is divided into five parts. The title of the volume refers primarily to part I, which is by far the largest and comprises papers discussing the fundamental questions of biology and related psychological and philosophical problems. Following the reproduction of papers brought to publication by Bohr, there is a separate Appendix to Part I including some of Bohr's most interesting and substantive unpublished contributions in this area. The papers in Part I span the last thirty years of Bohr's life and display his great interest in biological problems and his unremitting efforts to show that biology cannot be reduced to physics and chemistry.

Part II contains articles of a more general cultural interest. Some of these show that Bohr regarded the complementary perspective to be of value also outside the scientific sphere.

Part III contains the articles Bohr wrote about the great Danish philosopher Harald H�ffding. These short papers are presented in a section on their own because of the continuing discussion in the history of science about H�ffding's possible influence on Bohr's work in physics and his whole scientific approach.

Part IV comprises articles illuminating the history of 20th century physics. Bohr had great veneration for his predecessors and teachers, and he prepared these articles with great care.

Part V contains correspondence relating to the material in Parts I through IV. As in previous volumes an inventory of relevant unpublished manuscripts held at the Niels Bohr Archive constitutes an appendix to the whole volume.