Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom

• Presents for the first time a detailed and comprehensive study of the Bohr atom in all its aspects.
• By investigating the entire life of the theory, from birth to death, it provides a unique example of theory dynamics that will interest both historians and philosophers.
• Presents a broader picture of Bohr's atomic theory by taking into account the reception of the theory and the often critical voices of scientists of a conservative inclination.
• Discusses the chemical aspects of the theory as an integral part of it, which is rarely done in other accounts.
• Pays particular attention to the tests of Bohr's theory and the anomalies it faced, thereby giving a clearer picture of its decline and the crisis that led to quantum mechanics.

Readership: Physicists, chemists, historians and philosophers of science, and the general public interested in Bohr and atomic theory.

Helge Kragh, Professor of the History of Science at Aarhus University, Denmark

After graduation from the University of Copenhagen in physics and chemistry, and a period as a high school teacher, Helge Kragh became Associate Professor at Cornell University, Departments of History and Physics. Later, he took positions as Curator at the Steno Museum for Science and Medicine and Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oslo. Since 1997, he has been Professor of the History of Science and Technology at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, the International Academy for History of Science, and the European Academy of Science. From 2008-2010, he was President of the European Society for History of Science.

"In this new book, Helge Kragh fills in the details of Bohr's early career and how it affected science, not to mention Bohr himself. As befits a science historian, Kragh commendably links Bohr's enduring contributions to the painstaking efforts of the many researchers who found the various tiny pieces of the atomic jigsaw and helped fit them together." - Cern Courier

1: Atomic theory before 1913
2: On the constitution of atoms and molecules
3: Reception and early developments
4: The Bohr-Sommerfeld theory
5: A magic wand
6: Molecules and other failures
7: A theory of the chemical elements
8: The end of the Bohr atom
9: Appendix: The philosophers' atom