Neils Bohr was born in Copenhagen on October 7, 1885, and earned his doctorate at the University of Copenhagen in 1911. He is best known for his ground breaking work in atomic theory. His idea of liquid-drop model of atomic structure earned him the Nobel Prize in 1922 and paved the way to understanding nuclear fission

He was forced to flee Denmark in 1943. Bohr spent the remaining war years in the United States, where he participated in the American atomic bomb project at Los Alamos.