Bohr’s State of Happiness

When Niels Bohr joined Ernest Rutherford in his lab in 1912, the structure of an atom was just taking shape. Through a series of experiments, Rutherford had concluded that the mass and the positive charge in an atom are concentrated in a central nucleus while the electrons orbited around. Bohr found the structure to be highly unstable in that the electrons would emit energy and eventually collapse in to the nuclei or for that matter remain highly unstable and move out of position frequently. He later went on to propose the famous atomic model which defined that electrons existed in specific energy orbits with different quantum numbers. These electrons could jump between these specific energy levels and always come back to a state of highest possible stability.

More than a hundred years later today, the theory has gone on to help some of the greatest advancements that mankind has made in understanding the universe we live in. And that got me wondering whether the theory holds ground not just in the materialistic and biological aspect of life but also in the emotional side of it.

One of Niels Bohr’s favorite student, Lev Landau or simply Dau described happiness as simply a combination of "science, love and communication with people."

To break it down into the Bohr’s model would be to look at happiness as a game of energy interactions between you and the people around you, the different emotional states that those interactions take you to and then ultimately settling down into the most stable state, a state of optimum interaction giving maximum happiness. All of us meet several people in our lives with whom our energy levels are high, and we are highly unstable. On the other hand, there are always a few with whom there is a steady stable comfortable state that is achieved, as if they are having the same quantum energy. Comfort and stability lead to a feeling of happiness. And this state of happiness is different for everyone, just like it is different for hydrogen or carbon or even oxygen.

While Bohr’s original theory was about deciphering the smallest unit of matter, the atom, it also gave an indication towards the discrete levels of energy that keeps the atom stable. When you look at the theory at a macroscopic level, with a multitude of atoms constituting a human body and mind, it can be argued that the theory still holds its ground, like a giant atom with energy levels governing human emotions and the surrounding pieces helping to maintain the emotional stability. Although Bohr would never have guessed it, but his accomplishment of the atomic model might also explain his own state of happiness, the Bohr’s state of happiness.