Niels Bohr Institute

The Niels Bohr Institute is a research institute of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1921 by Danish physicist Niels Bohr, the institute is today an international center for research in atomic and nuclear physics, astrophysics, cosmology, nanotechnology and geophysics. The institute also houses one of the world’s leading collections of scientific instruments from the early 20th century.

The Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) was founded in Copenhagen on 3 November 1921 by Danish physicist Niels Bohr with financial support from the Carlsberg Foundation and other donors. The NBI’s first home was two rooms in the attic of Støvlet-Cathrine House at Øster Farimagsgade 5A; however, it soon outgrew these humble beginnings. In 1927 construction began on a new building at Blegdamsvej 17 to house laboratories and offices; this building remains the NBI’s home today.

Since its inception, more than 90 Nobel laureates have been associated with the NBI in some capacity, including four who did their Prize-winning work at the institute: Johannes Hans Daniel Jensen (physics), Aage Bohr (physics), Ben Mottelson (physics), and Gerard Mortier (chemistry). Other notable scientists who have worked at or been associated with the NBI include Werner Heisenberg, George de Hevesy, Léon Rosenfeld, Gregor Wentzel, Victor Weisskopf, Rolf Widerøe, Oskar Klein, Otto Robert Frisch , Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , John Wheeler , Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar , Louis de Broglie , Enrico Fermi , James Franck , Bertrand Russell , J. Robert Oppenheimer .

Today the NBI has over 200 employees from more than 40 countries working within its five main research areas: Atomic & Molecular Physics; Biological & Medical Physics; Climate & Geophysical Physics; Cosmology & Particle Astrophysics; and Nanoscience & Quantum Information Technology. These research activities are carried out both independently and in collaboration with institutions around Denmark and abroad.