What Danish order of knighthood was Niels Bohr awarded in 1947?

Niels Bohr was awarded the Order of the Elephant, Denmark’s highest-ranking order of knighthood, in 1947.

King Frederik IX announced the honour at a memorial meeting for the late King Christian X on 17 October 1947. Although the order was normally associated with royalty and heads of state, the king explained that Bohr’s appointment honoured not only the physicist but Danish science as a whole.

The Order of the Elephant is Denmark’s most distinguished order. Its history reaches back several centuries, and its insignia features a white elephant carrying a tower. Bohr designed his own coat of arms for the appointment. It included a taijitu, the familiar yin-yang symbol, accompanied by a motto referring to the complementary relationship between opposites—a concept closely connected with his interpretation of quantum mechanics.

The main confusion is with the Order of the Dannebrog, another important Danish order that has been awarded to many prominent citizens. Bohr’s exceptional 1947 distinction was the Order of the Elephant. The Order of the Polar Star belongs to Sweden, while the Order of the Falcon is associated with Iceland.