What is the name of the atomic model proposed by Niels Bohr?

The atomic model proposed by Niels Bohr is called the Bohr model. Introduced in 1913, it described electrons as occupying specific, quantized energy levels around an atomic nucleus.

Bohr developed the model while trying to solve a problem in Ernest Rutherford’s earlier nuclear model. Rutherford had shown that atoms contain a small, positively charged nucleus, but classical physics suggested that orbiting electrons should continuously lose energy and spiral into the nucleus. Bohr proposed that electrons could remain in certain stable orbits without radiating energy.

In the Bohr model, an electron emits or absorbs energy when it jumps between allowed levels. This idea successfully explained the distinct lines in hydrogen’s emission spectrum and helped establish early quantum theory. It also connected atomic structure with the colors of light produced by excited gases.

The model is historically foundational but is not the complete modern picture of the atom. Quantum mechanics replaced fixed electron orbits with orbitals, which describe probabilities rather than miniature planetary paths.