What do you think?
Rate this book
The Theory of Spectra and Atomic Constitution
The first essay "On the spectrum of hydrogen" is a translation of a Danish address given before the Physical Society of Copenhagen on the 20th of December 1913, and printed in Fysisk Tidsskrift, xii. p. 97, 1914.
The second essay "On the series spectra of the elements" is a translation of a German address given before the Physical Society of Berlin on the 27th of April 1920, and printed in Zeitschrift fur Physik, vi. p. 423, 1920...
The third essay "The structure of the atom and the physical and chemical properties of the elements" is based on a Danish address, given before a joint meeting of the Physical and Chemical Societies of Copenhagen on the 18th of October 1921, and printed in Fysisk Tidsskrift, xix. p. 153, 1921. While the first two essays form verbal translations of the respective addresses, this essay differs from the Danish original in certain minor points...
For the convenience of the reader all three essays are subdivided into smaller paragraphs, each with a headline. Conforming to the character of the essays there is, however, no question of anything like a full account or even a proportionate treatment of the subject stated in these headlines, the principal object being to emphasize certain general views in a freer form than is usual in scientific treatises or text books. For the same reason no detailed references to the literature are given, although an attempt is made to mention the main contributions to the development of the subject...
May, 1922 Niels Bohr
The second essay "On the series spectra of the elements" is a translation of a German address given before the Physical Society of Berlin on the 27th of April 1920, and printed in Zeitschrift fur Physik, vi. p. 423, 1920...
The third essay "The structure of the atom and the physical and chemical properties of the elements" is based on a Danish address, given before a joint meeting of the Physical and Chemical Societies of Copenhagen on the 18th of October 1921, and printed in Fysisk Tidsskrift, xix. p. 153, 1921. While the first two essays form verbal translations of the respective addresses, this essay differs from the Danish original in certain minor points...
For the convenience of the reader all three essays are subdivided into smaller paragraphs, each with a headline. Conforming to the character of the essays there is, however, no question of anything like a full account or even a proportionate treatment of the subject stated in these headlines, the principal object being to emphasize certain general views in a freer form than is usual in scientific treatises or text books. For the same reason no detailed references to the literature are given, although an attempt is made to mention the main contributions to the development of the subject...
May, 1922 Niels Bohr
- GenresScience
136 pages, ebook
First published May 1, 1922
8 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Niels Bohr
135 books230 followersNiels Henrik David Bohr (Danish pronunciation: [ni:ls ˈboɐ̯ˀ]) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in Copenhagen. He was part of a team of physicists working on the Manhattan Project. Bohr married Margrethe Nørlund in 1912, and one of their sons, Aage Bohr, grew up to be an important physicist who in 1975 also received the Nobel Prize. Bohr has been described as one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century.
In 1922 Niels Bohr was awarded the Nobel prize in physics "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them".
In 1922 Niels Bohr was awarded the Nobel prize in physics "for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and of the radiation emanating from them".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 20, 2023
Another masterpiece by one of the greatest physicist of our time.
From Wiki:
During the Project Manhattan, Oppenheimer suggested that Bohr visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt to convince him that the Manhattan Project should be shared with the Soviets in the hope of speeding up its results. Bohr's friend, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, informed President Roosevelt about Bohr's opinions, and a meeting between them took place on 26 August 1944. Roosevelt suggested that Bohr return to the United Kingdom to try to win British approval. When Churchill and Roosevelt met at Hyde Park on 19 September 1944, they rejected the idea of informing the world about the project, and the aide-mémoire of their conversation contained a rider that "enquiries should be made regarding the activities of Professor Bohr and steps taken to ensure that he is responsible for no leakage of information, particularly to the Russians".
In June 1950, Bohr addressed an "Open Letter" to the United Nations calling for international cooperation on nuclear energy. In the 1950s, after the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test, the International Atomic Energy Agency was created along the lines of Bohr's suggestion. In 1957 he received the first ever Atoms for Peace Award.
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
I am converting this book to an html&svg images file and Project Gutenberg will publish it pretty soon.
CONTENTS
ESSAY I
ON THE SPECTRUM OF HYDROGEN
Empirical Spectral Laws 1
Laws of Temperature Radiation 4
The Nuclear Theory of the Atom 7
Quantum Theory of Spectra 10
Hydrogen Spectrum 12
The Pickering Lines 15
Other Spectra 18
ESSAY II
ON THE SERIES SPECTRA OF THE ELEMENTS
I. Introduction .20
II. General Principles of the Quantum Theory of Spectra . 23
Hydrogen Spectrum 24
The Correspondence Principle 27
General Spectral Laws 29
Absorption and Excitation of Radiation 32
III. Development of the Quantum Theory of Spectra . . 36
Effect of External Forces on the Hydrogen Spectrum . . 37
The Stark Effect 39
The Zeeman Effect 42
Central Perturbations . 44
Relativity Effect on Hydrogen Lines 46
Theory of Series Spectra 48
Correspondence Principle and Conservation of Angular Momentum 50
The Spectra of Helium and Lithium 54
Complex Structure of Series Lines 58
IV. Conclusion 59
ESSAY III
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM AND THE PHYSICAL
AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ELEMENTS
I. Preliminary 61
The Nuclear Atom 61
The Postulates of the Quantum Theory 62
Hydrogen Atom 63
Hydrogen Spectrum and X-ray Spectra 65
The Fine Structure of the Hydrogen Lines .... 67
Periodic Table 69
Recent Atomic Models 74
II. Series Spectra and the Capture of Electrons by Atoms . 75
Arc and Spark Spectra 76
Series Diagram 78
Correspondence Principle 81
III. Formation of Atoms and the Periodic Table ... 85
First Period. Hydrogen--Helium 85
Second Period. Lithium--Neon 89
Third Period. Sodium--Argon 95
Fourth Period. Potassium--Krypton 100
Fifth Period. Rubidium-- Xenon 108
Sixth Period. Caesium--Niton 109
Seventh Period 111
Survey of the Periodic Table 113
IV. Reorganization of Atoms and X-ray Spectra . . .116
Absorption and Emission of X-rays and Correspondence Principle 117
X-ray Spectra and Atomic Structure 119
Classification of X-ray Spectra 121
Conclusion 125
From Wiki:
During the Project Manhattan, Oppenheimer suggested that Bohr visit President Franklin D. Roosevelt to convince him that the Manhattan Project should be shared with the Soviets in the hope of speeding up its results. Bohr's friend, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, informed President Roosevelt about Bohr's opinions, and a meeting between them took place on 26 August 1944. Roosevelt suggested that Bohr return to the United Kingdom to try to win British approval. When Churchill and Roosevelt met at Hyde Park on 19 September 1944, they rejected the idea of informing the world about the project, and the aide-mémoire of their conversation contained a rider that "enquiries should be made regarding the activities of Professor Bohr and steps taken to ensure that he is responsible for no leakage of information, particularly to the Russians".
In June 1950, Bohr addressed an "Open Letter" to the United Nations calling for international cooperation on nuclear energy. In the 1950s, after the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test, the International Atomic Energy Agency was created along the lines of Bohr's suggestion. In 1957 he received the first ever Atoms for Peace Award.
Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
I am converting this book to an html&svg images file and Project Gutenberg will publish it pretty soon.
CONTENTS
ESSAY I
ON THE SPECTRUM OF HYDROGEN
Empirical Spectral Laws 1
Laws of Temperature Radiation 4
The Nuclear Theory of the Atom 7
Quantum Theory of Spectra 10
Hydrogen Spectrum 12
The Pickering Lines 15
Other Spectra 18
ESSAY II
ON THE SERIES SPECTRA OF THE ELEMENTS
I. Introduction .20
II. General Principles of the Quantum Theory of Spectra . 23
Hydrogen Spectrum 24
The Correspondence Principle 27
General Spectral Laws 29
Absorption and Excitation of Radiation 32
III. Development of the Quantum Theory of Spectra . . 36
Effect of External Forces on the Hydrogen Spectrum . . 37
The Stark Effect 39
The Zeeman Effect 42
Central Perturbations . 44
Relativity Effect on Hydrogen Lines 46
Theory of Series Spectra 48
Correspondence Principle and Conservation of Angular Momentum 50
The Spectra of Helium and Lithium 54
Complex Structure of Series Lines 58
IV. Conclusion 59
ESSAY III
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM AND THE PHYSICAL
AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THE ELEMENTS
I. Preliminary 61
The Nuclear Atom 61
The Postulates of the Quantum Theory 62
Hydrogen Atom 63
Hydrogen Spectrum and X-ray Spectra 65
The Fine Structure of the Hydrogen Lines .... 67
Periodic Table 69
Recent Atomic Models 74
II. Series Spectra and the Capture of Electrons by Atoms . 75
Arc and Spark Spectra 76
Series Diagram 78
Correspondence Principle 81
III. Formation of Atoms and the Periodic Table ... 85
First Period. Hydrogen--Helium 85
Second Period. Lithium--Neon 89
Third Period. Sodium--Argon 95
Fourth Period. Potassium--Krypton 100
Fifth Period. Rubidium-- Xenon 108
Sixth Period. Caesium--Niton 109
Seventh Period 111
Survey of the Periodic Table 113
IV. Reorganization of Atoms and X-ray Spectra . . .116
Absorption and Emission of X-rays and Correspondence Principle 117
X-ray Spectra and Atomic Structure 119
Classification of X-ray Spectra 121
Conclusion 125
October 7, 2012
by Valentin Chirosca
As regards further information the reader in the case of the second essay is referred to a larger treatise "On the quantum theory of line spectra," two parts of which have appeared in the Transactions of the Copenhagen Academy (D. Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Skrifter, 8. Rsekke, IV. 1, 1 and II, 191 8), where full references to the literature may be found.
The proposed continuation of this treatise, mentioned at several places in the second essay, has for various reasons been delayed, but in the near future the work will be completed by the publication of a third part. It is my intention to deal more fully with the problems discussed in the third essay by a larger systematic account of the application of the quantum theory to atomic problems, which is under preparation.
As mentioned both in the beginning and at the end of the third essay, the considerations which it contains are clearly still incomplete in character. This holds not only as regards the elaboration of details, but also as regards the development of the theoretical ideas. It may be useful once more to emphasize, that—although the word "explanation" has been used more liberally than for instance in the first essay—we are not concerned with a description of the phenomena, based on a well-defined physical picture. It may rather be said that hitherto every progress in the problem of atomic structure has tended to emphasize the well-known "mysteries" of the quantum theory more and more.
Niels Bohr was President of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, of the Danish Cancer Committee, and Chairman of the Danish Atomic Energy Commission. He was a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (London), the Royal Institution, and Academies in Amsterdam, Berlin, Bologna, Boston, Göttingen, Helsingfors, Budapest, München, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Uppsala, Vienna, Washington, Harlem, Moscow, Trondhjem, Halle, Dublin, Liege, and Cracow. He was Doctor, honoris causa, of the following universities, colleges, and institutes: (1923-1939) - Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Kiel, Providence, California, Oslo, Birmingham, London; (1945-1962) - Sorbonne (Paris), Princeton, Mc. Gill (Montreal), Glasgow, Aberdeen, Athens, Lund, New York, Basel, Aarhus, Macalester (St. Paul), Minnesota, Roosevelt (Chicago, Ill.), Zagreb, Technion (Haifa), Bombay, Calcutta, Warsaw, Brussels, Harvard, Cambridge (Mass.), and Rockefeller (New York).
Professor Bohr was married, in 1912, to Margrethe Nørlund, who was for him an ideal companion. They had six sons, of whom they lost two; the other four have made distinguished careers in various professions - Hans Henrik (M.D.), Erik (chemical engineer), Aage (Ph.D., theoretical physicist, following his father as Director of the Institute for Theoretical Physics), Ernest (lawyer).
From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922-1941, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1965
June 6, 2017
This rating ONLY applies to the Amazon Kindle version: This book would probably be very good in tangible format. Unfortunately, it is impossible to read in electronic format. Many of the formulae given did not translate to the electronic format. A simple equation containing a fraction and/or exponent is shown as: _ ^ = ^ - ^
The variables disappear completely or appear randomly. When it comes to the parts not involving math, it reads very smoothly. Unfortunately, there are too many equations not appearing in the kindle version to make it readable.
The variables disappear completely or appear randomly. When it comes to the parts not involving math, it reads very smoothly. Unfortunately, there are too many equations not appearing in the kindle version to make it readable.
February 18, 2022
Is this book available in Hindi language ?
February 11, 2020
Odd that I somehow havben't read this til now, but while not the best I've seen, fairly decent, good foundational material to supplement later work. Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews