Niels Bohr enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Copenhagen in 1903.
He entered the university after completing his student examination at Gammelholm Latin School. Bohr’s principal subject was physics, studied under Christian Christiansen, who was then the university’s only physics professor. He also studied mathematics and astronomy with astronomer Thorvald Thiele and philosophy with Harald Høffding.
The year 1903 marked the beginning of a university career that transformed modern physics. In 1905, while still a student, Bohr investigated the surface tension of liquids for a Royal Danish Academy competition. His work won the academy’s gold medal and helped push him toward a more theoretical approach to physics.
Bohr earned his master’s degree in 1909 and completed his doctoral thesis in 1911. Those dates are common sources of confusion: 1911 marks his doctorate, not his undergraduate enrollment. His later 1913 papers on atomic structure made him internationally famous.