Atomic see Eye > 3 Ey a ao] a Mow # z. 5 lange 3 ee a 3 3 5 p ae B a se Oy i oS oO i eee Gita triers re a Wee 2 eeDoCUNAN SFE we - 7 APR1987 Niels Bohr Atomic Physics NEW YORK - JOHN WILEY & SONS, INC. London + Chapman & Hall, Limited and Human Kno wled ge Hid1$228SEP : i987 , 4 OIS |" N [ Catecoay ee co emsiitah Copvncnr ©, 1958 By Nieis Born Alll rights reserved. This book or any part thereof must not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher. Lirary oF Concress Catatoc Caro Numer: 58-9002 Paintep iw THe Unrrep States or AMERICA Preface T is collection of articles, written on various occasions within the last 25 years, forms a sequel to earlier essays edited by the Cambridge University Press, 1934, in a volume titled Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature. The theme of the papers is the epistemological lesson which the modern development of atomic physics has given us and its relevance for analysis and synthesis in many fields of human knowledge. The articles in the previous edition were written at a time when the establishment of the mathematical methods of quantum mechanics had created a firm foundation for the consistent treatment of atomic phenomena, and the conditions for an unambiguous account of experience within this framework were characterized by the notion of complementarity. In the papers collected here, this approach is further developed in logical formula- tion and given broader application. Of course, much repetition has been unavoidable, but it is hoped that this may serve to illustrate the gradual clarification of the argumentation, especially as regards more concise terminology. In the development of the views concerned, discussions with former and present collaborators at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in the University of Copenhagen have been most valuable to me. For v