| 1885 |
born October 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 1891 |
entered the Grammelholms school |
| 1903 |
took his Studenterexamen, following the
completion of his secondary school education and entered the
University of Copenhagen |
| 1906 |
won the Gold Medal from the Royal Danish Academy of
Sciences for his analysis of vibrations of water jets as a means of
determining surface tension |
| 1909 |
received his Master's degree from the University of
Copenhagen |
| 1911 |
earned his PhD in Denmark with a
dissertation on the electron theory of metals and went to England to
study with J. J. Thompson. He also began a correspondance with
Rutherford that continued until 1937 |
| 1912 |
he joined Rutherford and his theories,
moving to the Victoria University, Manchester and married Margrethe
Norlund |
| 1913 |
appointed as a docent in Copenhagen |
| 1917 |
elected to the Danish Academy of Sciences and he began
to plan for an Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen |
| 1920 |
he contributed his theoretical description of the
periodic table of elements |
| 1921 |
the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen
opened and he became its director, a position he held for the rest
of his life |
| 1922 |
won the Nobel Prize for physics |
| 1925 |
Quantum mechanics may be said to have arrived |
| 1936 |
he contributed his theory of the atomic
nucleus being a compound structure |
| 1937 |
made a world tour to the United States, Japan, China
and the USSR with his wife and son |
| 1939 |
he
contributed his understanding of uranium fission in terms of the
isotope 235 |
| 1943 |
had to escape the Nazis by being taken to Sweden by
fishing boat |
| 1944 |
he became deeply concerned about the control of
nuclear weapons and tried to persuade Churchill and Roosevelt for
the need to have international cooperation |
| 1950 |
wrote a public letter to the United Nations arguing
for rational, peaceful atomic policies |
| 1957 |
received the first U.S. Atoms for Peace Award |
| 1962 |
died from a heart attack in his home November 18 |
