Lived 1922 – 2009.
Aage Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 for his work detailing the structure of the atomic nucleus.
Early Life and Education
Aage Niels Bohr was born in Denmark's capital city, Copenhagen, on June 19, 1922.
In the same year as Aage was born, his father, Niels Bohr, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his explanation of the structure of atoms and the radiation emitted by them.
Aage's mother, Margrethe Nørlund, gave birth to six children – all boys; Aage was the fourth. Margrethe was well educated; she assisted Niels Bohr with his paperwork and discussed his scientific research with him in detail.
Aage Bohr's education was both conventional and, from a scientific point of view, extraordinarily privileged. Like many other students of high school age in Copenhagen, he attended grammar school – the Sortedam Gymnasium. Unlike other students, he also enjoyed conversations with some of the world's most outstanding physicists, including his father, of course.
In later life Aage recalled some of the giants of science who had worked in Copenhagen with his father; he met them so regularly that they became his 'uncles' – including Uncle Werner Heisenberg (Nobel Prize in Physics 1932) and Uncle Wolfgang Pauli (Nobel Prize in Physics 1945).
World War 2
In April 1940, when Aage was 17, Denmark was invaded by the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
This was a worrying time for the Bohr family. Aage's mother and father were both baptized Christians, but Aage's grandmother (Niels Bohr's mother) was Jewish, and this connection meant there could be trouble from the Nazis.
At first, however, there were no problems and, aged 18, Aage enrolled at Copenhagen University intending to obtain a degree in physics. He also became a scientific assistant to his father, with gradually increasing input to his father's physics research.
In September 1943, the Nazis decided to deport Denmark's Jews to concentration camps.
The Bohr family fled in fishing boats across the short stretch of water separating Denmark from Sweden. Sweden was officially neutral and had not been invaded by the Nazis. Nearly all of Denmark's 7000 Jews fled over the sea to Sweden in 1943.
In October 1943, one week apart, Niels and Aage Bohr flew from Sweden over Nazi-occupied Norway to the United Kingdom. They flew in British warplanes, which came to Sweden to collect them. Margrethe Bohr decided to remain in Sweden, where she stayed until the war ended.
At the age of 21, Aage Bohr was flown from Sweden over Nazi-occupied Norway and the North Sea to Scotland in a de Havilland Mosquito. Such a flight was not free of risk!
Once safely in the UK, father and son began scientific research for the British Government, working in the atomic bomb project headed by .
In 1944 father and son became involved in the Manhattan Project, spending significant amounts of time in the United States as well as London. To keep their presence in America secret, they traveled under the names "Nicholas Baker" and "James Baker."
