There was a public tour, led by the archivist (whose name is Rob), who told lots of stories. You can sit at Bohr’s desk, but the archivist said the real place where it all happened was at the conference table.
The most exciting part for me was after the tour, when Leslie and I assisted Jer with a bit of archival research. Bohr’s scientific correspondence is all digitized and available online, but Jer wanted to sniff around in some of the funding records, and those are just on paper in orderly boxes. The archivist got us set up, Jer told us what to look for, and I photographed a stack of papers. Leslie also posed with a Bohr statue.
It was fascinating. First of all, it was an extraordinary feeling to hold papers in my hand that Niels Bohr had held in his hand. They were mostly in Danish; but behold the wonder of Google Translate:
(There was also handwritten material, which was amazing, but google mostly couldn’t make it out.) Most of what I was looking at was Bohr’s correspondence with the Carlsberg Beer company, which funded scientific research back then, just like Novo Nordisk does now [https://use.ku.dk/]. The files included requests for funding, budget justifications, expense reports, thank you letters — “boring” stuff, in a way, but it was such a delight, so relatable, that freaking Niels Bohr had to do the same kind of bureaucratic whatever that I have to do all the time. I loved it.
A funny thing was that many of the letters were signed “Erbødigst,” and I had never heard of anyone by that name. Turns out it is the Danish equivalent of “Sincerely.” hahaha
Jer had a good time with a pile of letters from Bohr either supporting, or not supporting, other people’s requests for funding to work with him. When he was not supporting the application, he used standard language: “I cannot offer you any detailed judgment of [the applicant]'s scientific qualifications.” – full stop. Which, in academia, would definitely come across as “This proposal is a steaming heap.” Jer found one application from a guy who claimed to have discovered a "general mathematical law -- the law of the relativity of health, sex, physica, mental, and psycho-sexual characteristics"; this guy was applying for a fellowship to work with Bohr to find out how it all fit together with quantum mechanics. Hilarious, that quantum crackpots/mystics/pseudoscientists were just as much of a thing in 1925 as they are now. In response to this application, Bohr said “I cannot offer you any detailed judgment of Dr. Kelcik's scientific qualifications, but in confidence I may say that the general statements in his application leaves it doubtful whether his scientific standard attains a level whcih I understand to be expected from fellows of your foundation." Definitely a steaming heap.
