Niels Bohr

This is the first international film portrait of the Danish physicist Niels Bohr (1885-1962), one of the greatest pioneers of atomic physics. For many years his institute in Copenhagen was a centre for exploring the mysteries of the atom. The film traces Niels Bohr's life, being based on material selected from archives all over the world. It includes a number of interviews with world-renowned physicists, including John A. Wheeler and Carl F. Weizsäcker, both of whom were close friends of Bohr and his colleagues during the period when the Copenhagen institute was at the height of its fame. The film touches on Bohr's youth, his discussions with Einstein, the critical time during the Second World War in connection with Churchill and the atomic bomb, likewise on Bohr's open letter to the United Nations in which he appealed for close cooperation across all borders in order to prevent further catastrophes.