Harald August Bohr (22 April 1887 – 22 January 1951) was a Danish

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of

almost periodic function In mathematics, an almost periodic function is, loosely speaking, a function of a real variable that is periodic to within any desired level of accuracy, given suitably long, well-distributed "almost-periods". The concept was first studied by ...

s. His brother was the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning physicist

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...

. He was on the Denmark national team for the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

, where he won a silver medal.

Biography

Bohr was born in 1887 to Christian Bohr, a professor of physiology, from a Lutheran background, and Ellen Adler Bohr, a woman from a wealthy Jewish family of local renown. Harald had a close relationship with his elder brother, which ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' likened to that between Captain Cuttle and Captain Bunsby in

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

' '' Dombey and Son''.

Mathematical career

Like his father and brother before him, in 1904 Bohr enrolled at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, where he studied mathematics, obtaining his master's degree in 1909 and his doctorate a year later. Among his tutors were Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen and Thorvald N. Thiele. Bohr worked in mathematical analysis; much of his early work was devoted to

Dirichlet series In mathematics, a Dirichlet series is any series of the form \sum_^\infty \frac, where ''s'' is complex, and a_n is a complex sequence. It is a special case of general Dirichlet series. Dirichlet series play a variety of important roles in anal ...

including his doctorate, which was entitled ''Bidrag til de Dirichletske Rækkers Theori'' (''Contributions to the Theory of Dirichlet Series''). A collaboration with

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

-based Edmund Landau resulted in the Bohr–Landau theorem, regarding the distribution of zeroes in zeta functions. Bohr worked in

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series ( ...

, founding the field of

s, and worked with the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

mathematician

G. H. Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...

. In 1915, he became a professor at Polyteknisk Læreanstalt (today

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

), working there until 1930, when he took a professorship at the University of Copenhagen. He remained in this post for 21 years until his death in 1951. Børge Jessen was one of his students there. He was a visiting professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

during the academic year 1930–1931. He was a visiting scholar at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

in the summer of 1948. Bohr was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1945. In the 1930s Bohr was a leading critic of the anti-Semitic policies taking root in the German mathematical establishment, publishing an article criticising

Ludwig Bieberbach Ludwig Georg Elias Moses Bieberbach (; 4 December 1886 – 1 September 1982) was a German mathematician and leading representative of National Socialist German mathematics (" Deutsche Mathematik"). Biography Born in Goddelau, near Darmstadt, ...

's ideas in '' Berlingske Aften'' in 1934.

Football

Bohr was also an excellent football player. He had a long playing career with

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (AB) is a Denmark, Danish professional football (soccer), football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The ...

, making his debut as a 16-year-old in 1903. During the 1905 season he played alongside his brother

Niels Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nikolaos, after Saint ...

, who was a goalkeeper. Harald was selected to play for the Denmark national team in the

, where football was an official event for the first time. Though a Danish side had played at the 1906 Intercalated Games, the opening match of the 1908 Olympic tournament was Denmark's first official international football match. Bohr scored two goals as Denmark beat the French "B" team 9–0. In the next match, the semi-final, Bohr played in a 17–1 win against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, which remains an Olympic record. Denmark faced hosts

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in the final, but lost 2–0, and Bohr won a silver medal. After the Olympics he made one further appearance for the national team, in a 2–1 victory against an England amateur team in 1910. His popularity as a footballer was such that when he defended his doctoral thesis the audience was reported as having more football fans than mathematicians.

Teacher

Bohr was known as an academic teacher and the annual award for outstanding teaching at the

is called the Harald, in honour of Harald Bohr. With Johannes Mollerup, Bohr wrote an influential four-volume textbook ''Lærebog i Matematisk Analyse'' (''Textbook in mathematical analysis'').

Kaj Munk

Following the murder of Kaj Munk on 4 January 1944 the Danish resistance newspaper '' De frie Danske'' brought condemning reactions from influential Scandinavians, including Bohr.

References

External links

* *
Some photos of Harald Bohr
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bohr, Harald 1887 births 1951 deaths 20th-century Danish mathematicians Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Danish men's footballers Olympic footballers for Denmark Olympic silver medalists for Denmark Footballers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Denmark men's international footballers Akademisk Boldklub players Harald Olympic medalists in football Danish Jews Danish people of Jewish descent Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Men's association football midfielders Jewish footballers Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society