Fritjof Capra Profile

Carolyn and I have appreciated the work of Danish physicist and philosopher Niels Bohr, who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. He was also one of the first to consider and explore “quantum metaphysics,” the notion that matter is derived from consciousness.

Niels Henrik David Bohr was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1885. He was the second of three children. His father was a professor of physiology, and his mother came from a wealthy Jewish banking family.

When he was seven, Bohr started his education at Gammelholm Latin School. In 1903, he enrolled at Copenhagen University, where he studied physics, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. In 1905, Bohr won a gold medal competition for a physics contest measuring the surface tension of liquids, that he had to make his specialized glassware for. He later submitted an improved version of this paper, which was published by the Royal Society of London.

In 1909, Bohr received his master’s degree in mathematics, and in 1911 he received his doctorate in physics from Copenhagen University for his research into the magnetic properties of metals. During this time Bohr also met and married Margrethe Norlund, a Danish woman who collaborated with him on his research and helped to edit and transcribe his work.

In 1911, Bohr traveled to England, where most of the theoretical work on the structure of atoms and molecules was being done. He studied electromagnetism and researched cathode rays. In 1912, he began teaching physics to medical students at the University of Copenhagen, and in 1913 he did revolutionary work on creating a new model of the atom that became known as the “Bohr model” of the atom, which is the most basic particle of the chemical elements. This model of the atom consists of a small, dense nucleus surrounded by orbiting subatomic particles called “electrons,” in a way that is analogous to the structure of the solar system.

Bohr advanced atomic theory by proposing that electrons travel in orbits around the nucleus, or center of the atom, in “stationary states” that stabilize the atom. Bohr also introduced the idea that an electron could drop from a higher-energy orbit to a lower one, and in this process emit a “quantum” of discrete energy.

A quantum is the minimum amount of energy in any physical interaction between the fundamental forces of nature. Bohr’s theory became a basis for what is now known as the “old quantum theory”—which predates modern quantum mechanics. This was considered a breakthrough by many physicists of his day, including Albert Einstein.

In 1916, Bohr was appointed as the Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, a position that was created especially for him. In 1918, he established an Institute of Theoretical Physics at the university, where he became the director, and this institute is today known as the Niels Bohr Institute. Bohr was extremely dedicated to this work, and he and his family moved into an apartment on the first floor. Bohr’s institute served as a focal point for researchers into quantum mechanics during the 1920s and 1930s, when most of the world’s best-known theoretical physicists spent time there.

In 1919, Bohr revised his model of the atom, and its relationship with electrons, and in 1921, he published a paper that showed that the chemical properties of each element were largely determined by the number of electrons in the outer orbits of its atoms. In 1922, Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services in the investigation of the structure of atoms and the radiation emanating from them.”

In 1924, physicist Werner Heisenberg — who developed the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics, and a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics known as the “uncertainty principle”— came to the University of Copenhagen, where he worked as an assistant to Bohr from 1926 to 1927, and they had an important influence on one another. Around this time, Bohr became convinced that light behaved like both waves and particles, and he conceived the philosophical principle of “complementarity,” which proposed that physical structures could have, what appear to be, mutually exclusive properties — such as being a wave or a stream of particles, depending on the experimental framework, or one’s perspective.

Heisenberg said that Bohr was “primarily a philosopher, not a physicist.” Bohr was influenced by Soren Kierkegaard’s philosophy, and he had an interest in metaphysics and psychic phenomena. In 1932, Bohr met with psychiatrist Carl Jung at a conference on intellectual cooperation, and they discussed the concept of synchronicity— the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection. Bohr was also interested in the concept of psychokinesis — the influencing of matter by thought — and he believed that parapsychology was worthy of study. Bohr was also one of the first to consider and explore the concept of “quantum metaphysics,” the notion that matter is derived from consciousness.

In 1940, early in the Second World War, Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Denmark. In 1943, word reached Bohr that the Nazis considered him to be Jewish since his mother was Jewish and that he was therefore in danger of being arrested. The Danish resistance helped Bohr and his wife escape to Sweden.

In 1943, Bohr arrived in Washington, D.C., where he met with the director of the Manhattan Project, the research program that led to the development of the atomic bomb. Bohr visited Einstein at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and went to Los Alamos in New Mexico, where the atomic bomb was being designed.

Bohr did not remain at Los Alamos, but he paid a series of extended visits there over the next two years. Physicist Robert Oppenheimer credited Bohr with acting “as a scientific father figure to the younger men” that were there, and Oppenheimer gave Bohr credit for an important contribution to the work on an essential part of the project called “modulated neutron initiators.” “This device remained a stubborn puzzle,” Oppenheimer said, “but in early February 1945 Niels Bohr clarified what had to be done.”

Following the end of the war in 1945, Bohr returned to Copenhagen, where he was elected as president of the Royal Danish Academy of Science. In 1947, the king of Denmark, Frederik IX, awarded Bohr with membership in the Order of the Elephant — a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark’s highest-ranked honor — which was normally only awarded to royalty and heads of state. Bohr designed his coat of arms, which included a Chinese yin-yang symbol in its center, signifying that “opposites are complementary.” Bohr also received numerous other awards and honors, such as the Matteucci Medal, the Copley Medal, and the Atoms for Peace Award.

In 1962, Bohr died of heart failure at his home in Carlsberg, Denmark.

In 1963, the Bohr model’s semi-centennial was commemorated in Denmark with a postage stamp depicting Bohr, the hydrogen atom, and the formula for the difference in hydrogen energy levels. Several other countries have also issued postage stamps depicting Bohr. In 1997, the Danish National Bank began circulating the 500-krone banknote with a portrait of Bohr smoking a pipe. Additionally, an asteroid, 3948 Bohr, was named after him, as was the Bohr Lunar Crater, and Bohrium, the chemical element with atomic number 107.

Some of the quotes that Niels Bohr is known for include:

Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real. If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

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

No, no, you’re not thinking; you’re just being logical.

There are some things so serious that you have to laugh at them.

A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself.

The meaning of life consists in the fact that it makes no sense to say that life has no meaning.

We must be clear that when it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry. The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts as with creating images and establishing mental connections.

Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.

Your theory is crazy, but it’s not crazy enough to be true.

by David Jay Brown

Carolyn and I have appreciated the work of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, whose painting The Scream has become one of Western art’s most iconic images. Munch is also known for his “soul paintings,” and he was knighted by Norwegian royalty.

Edvard Munch was born in Adalsbruk, Norway in 1863. His father was a doctor and medical officer, who Munch described as “obsessively religious.” His mother was artistically talented, and she encouraged her son to express himself creatively. Munch had an older sister and three younger siblings.

In 1864, Munch’s family moved to Oslo. In 1868, his mother, as well as his older sister, died of tuberculosis, which had a profound impact on him. After his mother’s death, his aunt helped to raise the family. Munch was often ill as a child and kept out of school. During this time, he would often spend his time drawing and painting in watercolors. Munch was tutored in history and literature by his father, who often entertained the family with stories by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe.

The combination of an oppressive religious environment, his poor health, and vivid mystery stories by Poe, worked together to instill nightmares and macabre visions in young Munch’s mind. One of his younger sisters was diagnosed with mental illness at an early age and committed to a mental asylum. There was so much darkness in Munch’s early life that he often expressed the fear that he was going insane.

Munch’s earliest drawings and watercolors depicted the interior of his home and medicine bottles, but he soon began painting some landscapes. By the time Munch was a teenager, art became his primary interest. In 1876, Munch had his first exposure to other artists at the Norwegian Landscape School, where he began to paint in oils and tried to copy the paintings that he was exposed to.

In 1879, Munch enrolled in a technical college, where he studied engineering and excelled in physics, chemistry, and mathematics. He also learned scaled and perspective drawing techniques. Although he did well in college, he left school after just a year, with the determination to become a painter. Munch’s father was disappointed in his son’s decision, as he viewed art as an “unholy trade.” However, Munch saw his art as his salvation, and wrote the following in his diary around this time: “In my art, I attempt to explain life and its meaning to myself.”

In 1881, Munch enrolled at the Royal School of Art and Design in Oslo, which was founded by a distant relative. In 1883, Munch took part in his first public exhibition, and he became friendly with other art students. Munch was inspired by the art movement of Impressionism, which is characterized by small but visible brushstrokes that emphasize the depiction of light in its changing qualities. He was also influenced by Naturalism, which, in contrast, attempts to represent subject matter realistically, and he later became associated with the Symbolist Movement, which sought to depict ideas and emotions hidden behind physical reality.

Munch’s early work consisted largely of self-portraits and nudes. Sadly, all but one of his nude paintings from this period survive, as the others were destroyed by his father, who then refused to give his son any further money for art supplies. In 1886, Munch concluded that Impressionism was too superficial, and he broke off into new experimentation with what he called “soul painting.” This approach to his art served as a means of exploring and expressing the innermost feelings, thoughts, and experiences of the human psyche.

Munch believed that art should transcend the visual representation of the external world and delve into the subjective experience of the individual. “Soul painting” was not just a technique but a philosophy for Munch. It was about revealing the internal struggles and deeper realities of human existence, “making visible what was invisible to the eye.” Through “soul painting,” Munch aimed to capture the anguish, loneliness, love, and despair that he felt and perceived in others. His “soul paintings” were characterized by their evocative use of color, dramatic compositions, and often unsettling subjects that reflect complex emotional states.

His first painting of this type was The Sick Child, which was based on his sister’s death. This painting evolved into six paintings with that title, which record the moment before the passing of his older sister. These six paintings were created over more than forty years, between 1885 through 1926. They all depict variant images of the same scene; his sister lying ill in bed with his aunt kneeling beside her.

In 1889, Munch moved to Paris, and one of his paintings was shown at the Paris Exposition that year. He spent his time at exhibitions, galleries, and museums. Later that year his father died, and Munch returned to Oslo. While he was there, he arranged for a large loan from a wealthy Norwegian art collector and assumed financial responsibility for his family from then on. Munch’s paintings during this time were largely of tavern scenes and bright cityscapes, and he experimented with different painting styles. Around this time, his work was shown at exhibitions in Oslo and also in Berlin. In 1892, he moved to Berlin, where he became involved with an international circle of writers and artists, and he stayed there for four years.

In 1893, Munch created the first version of his most well-known painting The Scream. This is Munch’s most famous work and one of the most recognizable paintings in all art history. It has been widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Painted with broad bands of garish color and simplified forms, it reduces the agonized figure to a garbed skull in the throes of an emotional crisis.

There are several versions of this famous painting: two pastels, two oil paintings, and a lithograph. Pastel versions and the lithograph version were created in 1895. The second oil painting was completed in 1910. The original inspiration for this painting occurred while Munch had been out for a walk at sunset when suddenly the setting sun’s light turned the clouds “a blood red,” and he sensed an “infinite scream passing through nature.”

In 1908, Munch’s anxiety, which was compounded by excessive drinking, became more acute, and he began to suffer from hallucinations and feelings of persecution. This led to an eight-month hospital stay, where he underwent psychotherapy that stabilized his mind, and when he returned home his artwork was transformed. It became more colorful and less pessimistic. There was also more interest in his work after this dark night of the soul, and museums began to purchase his paintings. He was made a Knight of the Royal St. Olav — a Norwegian Order of Chivalry— “for services in art.” In 1912, he had his first American exhibit in New York.

Munch stopped drinking, and he produced portraits of friends and patrons. He also created landscapes and scenes of people at work and play, using a new optimistic style— broad, loose brushstrokes of vibrant color with frequent use of white space. With more income Munch was able to purchase several properties, giving him new vistas for his art, and he was finally able to provide for his family.

Munch spent the last two decades of his life largely in solitude at his estate in Oslo. Many of his late paintings celebrate farm life, including several in which his horse served as a model. Munch died in 1944, at the age of 80. After Munch died, many of his works were bequeathed to the city of Oslo, which built the Munch Museum. The museum houses the largest collection of his work in the world and holds around 1,100 paintings, 4,500 drawings, and 18,000 prints.

In 1974, a biographical film was made about Munch’s life called Edvard Munch. In 1994, the 1893 version of The Scream was stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo but was later recovered. Then in 2004, the 1910 version of the painting was stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo, and it was recovered in 2006 with some damage. In 2012, the 1895 pastel version of  The Scream sold for $119,922,500, and that is the only version of the painting not held by a Norwegian museum.

Some of the quotes that Edvard Munch is known for include:

From my rotting body, flowers shall grow, and I am in them, and that is eternity.

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye… it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.

I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

The camera will never compete with the brush and palette until such time as photography can be taken to Heaven or Hell.

My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. Without anxiety and illness, I am a ship without a rudder. My art is grounded in reflections over being different from others. My sufferings are part of myself and my art. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art. I want to keep those sufferings.

I felt as if there were invisible threads connecting us— I felt the invisible strands of her hair still winding around me— and thus as she disappeared completely beyond the sea— I still felt it, felt the pain where my heart was bleeding— because the threads could not be severed.

Your face encompasses the beauty of the whole earth. Your lips, as red as ripening fruit, gently part as if in pain. It is the smile of a corpse. Now the hand of death touches life. The chain is forged that links the thousand families that are dead to the thousand generations to come.

by David Jay Brown