Talk:Niels Bohr

Unsourced

 * No published sources were found for these, and they should not be returned to the article without citation of reliable sources.


 * It is better to not understand something true, than to understand something false.


 * 1) "The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth."

"It is the hallmark of any deep truth that its negation is also a deep truth."

While these statements seem profound themselves, I cannot come up with an example. Any ideas?

expert
As quoted by Edward Teller (10 October 1972), and A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) by Alan L. Mackay, p. 35 imho does not conform to WQ:SOURCE. If eager for variants, why not take http://books.google.de/books?id=n82xMo-BI8QC&pg=PA318 and http://books.google.de/books?id=n82xMo-BI8QC&pg=PA71 from Teller's memoirs? --Vsop.de 19:28, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
 * We have long included common variant forms, paraphrases, or alternate translations of sourced quotes along with those forms that are sourced to the earliest, and therefore most likely accurate forms. This can be helpful in many ways, one of them being the likelihood that people will find this site in internet searches using alternate forms, and therefore most likely to find those forms most likely to be most accurate. Thus, I certainly have no objections to variants you might find from being added. ~ ♞☮♌Kalki·†·⚓⊙☳☶⚡ 19:55, 2 February 2012 (UTC) + tweaks

"It works even if you don't believe in it"
The page used to say that the earliest account traced so far is some 1974 one, but even a cursory Google search throws up older ones:


 * Claim of a mention in 1971 "Asimov’s Treasury of Humor", even with discussion on how to tell the joke.
 * 1966: George Gamow, Thirty years that shook physics: the story of quantum theory, p. 57-58
 * There is another amusing story illustrating Bohr's whimsey. Above the front door of his country cottage in Tisvilde he nailed a horseshoe, which is proverbially instrumental in bringing luck. Seeing it, a visitor exclaimed: "Being as great a scientist as you are do you really believe that a horeshoe above the entrance to a home brings good luck?" "No," answered Bohr, "I certainly do not believe in this superstition. But you know," he added with a smile, "they say that it does bring luck even if you don't believe in it!"

I've removed the claim of "the earliest account thus far located", but unsure if we should do something more. I don't really think this is disputed, if so many sources say it... shreevatsa (talk) 05:25, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

Predicting the past
The current page says "The Danish source, used by Bohr and Petersen, has been traced back to Markus M. Ronner in 1918 by lundskovdk-citater.". This is not what the cited page says at all; in fact, it offers a link to German Wikipedia that indicates that Ronner was not born until 1938. 209.179.120.100 03:53, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Cannot be regarded as real
I see this quote often attributed to Bohr on the internet:


 * Everything we call real is made of things which cannot be regarded as real.

For example, at "ht tp://www.brainy quote.com/quotes/quotes/n/nielsbohr384378.html" and here. Can we come up with a proper citation? I'd like to see solid proof that this was said by Bohr. Or could it possibly be a variant translation of another quote already given in this article? 68.100.231.72 12:51, 18 June 2015 (UTC)


 * This is the closest source in his writings that I've been able to find:
 * "Especially, it should be emphasized that light quanta cannot be regarded as particles to which a well-defined path in the sense of ordinary mechanics can be ascribed." (Bohr, N. (1958). Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge. United Kingdom: Wiley.)
 * The phrase "cannot be regarded" matches, so perhaps the quote is a paraphrase of this? Fleckerl (talk) 17:19, 19 May 2022 (UTC)
 * I think I found a proper citation here: https://www.junkfoodforthought.com/quotations/R.htm
 * Interestingly, it is a sentence following a quote that it already listed in Wikiquote for Bohr. Here is the full quote (apparently):
 * For a parallel to the lesson of atomic theory regarding the limited applicability of such customary idealisations, we must in fact turn to quite other branches of science, such as psychology, or even to that kind of epistemological problems with which already thinkers like Buddha and Lao Tse have been confronted, when trying to harmonize our position as spectators and actors in the great drama of existence. Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.
 * The citation is:
 * Niels Bohr (1885-1962)
 * "Biologia e Fisica"
 * Bologna, 18-21 October 1937
 * Clearly, given the date, this is a reference to Celebrazione del Secondo Centenario della Nascita di Luigi Galvani, Bologna, Italy (October 1937). It provides the additional information that the name of Bohr's speech was "Biologia e Fisica", which is appropriate given the occasion (celebrating Galvani). However, despite my efforts, I can't find an online copy of the speech or the overall conference proceedings, so I'm not 100% sure this is a completely accurate citation. Could someone with access to the text of this speech (perhaps the person who posted the "great drama of existence" quote) confirm the quotation and add it to the page? Thanks. Nickg (talk) 17:54, 7 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I've found copies of the speech in three places online, but it does not contain the last sentence beginning with "Everything..." The rest of the quote is present, just not that sentence.
 * Here are the URLs: https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/018/10/0948-0959, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/atomic-physics, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Complementarity_Beyond_Physics_1928_1962/4RStj6dJDSgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA60&printsec=frontcover
 * --Fleckerl (talk) 19:55, 4 August 2023 (UTC)