{"id":142610,"date":"2022-11-21T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T08:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/blegdamsvejs-originale-gangsters-emeritusserne-holder-ud-naar-de-fleste-holder-op\/"},"modified":"2022-11-21T14:41:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T13:41:47","slug":"eccentric-originals-of-the-niels-bohr-institute-they-stick-it-out-after-most-of-us-have-given-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/eccentric-originals-of-the-niels-bohr-institute-they-stick-it-out-after-most-of-us-have-given-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Eccentric originals of the Niels Bohr Institute: They stick it out after most of us have given up"},"content":{"rendered":"

F<\/span>or many years, the tables in the lunch room at the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) on Blegdamsvej street were covered with large sheets of paper and cups with pencils like in a family restaurant. The writing tools were used diligently as the conversation took off between physicists from different research groups over lunch.<\/p>\n

The scientists jotted down illustrations and equations during meals to keep their colleagues up to date on current progress and on the physics paradoxes that were being attempted solved throughout the department. Or just to substantiate their arguments in an academic discussion.<\/p>\n

\u00bbI really liked that,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild, associate professor emeritus in experimental subatomic physics who was first hired at the department in 1967: \u00bbThis way, there was a social and professional interaction with colleagues from other fields also. You are, of course, interested in what is going on with a colleague’s exciting projects.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Danish physicist Niels Bohr himself came over during lunch and said, ‘I’ve heard that you want to study physics. This is a really good idea.\u2019 And I was happy to hear that.<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Emeritus Hans B\u00f8ggild on meeting Danish physicist Niels Bohr<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On a hot Copenhagen day in August 2022, four timeworn emeritus scientists are seated in the department’s fabled lecture theatre A, which during the last century played host to some of the greatest figures in the history of physics.<\/p>\n

\u00bbI graduated as a student in 1967, where I was employed as a temporary amanuensis. Not even an amanuensis, but a substitute amanuensis,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThis means you were kind of an assistant,\u00ab adds Mogens Levinsen, who is also Associate Professor Emeritus, \u00bbactually, a substitute for an assistant.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbI started in 67, and I managed to have a 40-year anniversary here before I retired. You might have had 45 or 50?\u00ab Hans B\u00f8ggild continues, turning to Geir Sletten, who shrugs his shoulders and smiles:<\/p>\n

\u00bbI am 84 now, so I have had a bit longer.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbI started out as a student at the same time as Hans in 1961, so I’ve known him ever since. But I’m not sure if he knew me,\u00ab says Mogens Levinsen.<\/p>\n

\u00bbOh stop. I must have done,\u00ab Hans B\u00f8ggild breaks in with a pat on the back of his colleague.<\/p>\n

\u00bbBut I spent a year doing the hippie thing in Afghanistan. So I did not finish until January 1969,\u00ab Levinsen continues, undeterred.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThen I was two years in Texas as a postdoc, and then I came to the H.C. \u00d8rsted Institute as an assistant professor.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbOh, so you made it to assistant professor,\u00ab Hans B\u00f8ggild jokes with ironic appreciation.<\/p>\n

\u00bbYes, I had been a postdoc.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbOh yes, that’s right.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Laughter erupts in the room, and in response to the reporter’s obvious confusion, Levinsen adds:<\/p>\n

\u00bbThis is one step above amanuensis.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The lively conversation continues. Research, and life at the department, is not something that you just put on the shelf because of something as arbitrary as reaching a pensionable age.<\/p>\n

The 43 emeriti at the Niels Bohr Institute still publish. Last year, they wrote 154 peer-reviewed scientific articles on top of their other scientific input to the general public. They meet and eat lunch together once a month at least, and next year, two new emeriti will join the group.
\n<\/p>\n

The Copenhagen spirit<\/h1>\n

The spirit and atmosphere of the Niels Bohr Institute is the stuff of legends. An egalitarian and unpretentious way of working has superseded the formal academic hierarchy between staff and students:<\/p>\n

\u00bbFor as long as I’ve been at the department, I’ve never used the [formal Danish, ed.] \u2018De\u2019 form of address with anyone here. In fact, Bohr himself once came over to talk to me. I can’t remember whether I was on the informal \u2018du\u2019, or the formal \u2018De\u2019 terms with him, but otherwise everyone else is on informal terms, and everyone is allowed to say their opinion.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\n

Rebels in the cause of youth<\/p>\n

Even though the multitude of professors emeriti at the Niels Bohr Institute have no formal power, they are not without influence over fundamental decisions. Not even when big corporate interests make their entry into the sphere of research.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, a planned collaboration with Microsoft<\/strong> set off waves in the department, as several researchers feared that it would forced secrecy upon scientific results as part of the contract with the tech giant.<\/p>\n

Non-disclosure of results<\/strong> could, in particular, be a problem for those PhD students who cannot get a permanent position if they have not published their research:<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe were all concerned that young people had to sign a document that deprived them of their rights. It was something we were all concerned with, but it was difficult because there was a lot of money involved<\/strong>,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild and continues:<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe rebelled as emeriti<\/strong>, where we authored a joint letter and sent it to management. They then had to negotiate directly with Microsoft to have them delete the clause that kept results secret.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The letter from the professors emeritus apparently also influenced the department’s way of dealing with a research partnership with NATO<\/strong>, according to Mogens Levinsen:<\/p>\n

\u00bbI was at a meeting where management clearly stated that we would not sign a contract like this, this time, with NATO. They took our joint letter\u2019s advice, so we got something out of it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Here the University Post took the bait like a hungry fish: Hans B\u00f8ggild was asked to elaborate on the flat hierarchy and the informal exchange with Niels Bohr:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt was the year I started my studies. 1961. Danish physicist Niels Bohr himself came over during lunch and said, ‘I’ve heard that you want to study physics. This is a really good idea.\u2019 And I was happy to hear that. He unfortunately died the following year.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The discussion culture can be traced back to the first two decades of the Niels Bohr Institute’s lifetime in the 1920s and 1930s. The period was not just characterised by ground-breaking research into things like quantum mechanics which laid the foundation for modern technologies, but also the cultivation of a certain vitality that has become known internationally as The Copenhagen Spirit.<\/p>\n

This was expressed in the form of a flatter hierarchy and a playful approach to science that has been a source of inspiration for the rest of the world. This is according to Emeritus Professor Helge Stjernholm Kragh, who is a science historian:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt was unique because of the research you did, but also the way in which the department was organised socially. There was a freewheeling discussion culture, and they mixed play with seriousness in a way that was unknown at the time.\u00ab<\/p>\n

According to Kragh’s assessment, this spirit is no longer peculiar to the Niels Bohr Institute:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt has almost become the norm today. We now know that if you want to have a well-functioning department, you cannot go back to the old authoritarian professors ruling, where you could not discuss freely with each other and the students.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The most amazing papers, right up to the end<\/h1>\n

Just like the department’s founder, the writing implements in the lunchroom are now a thing of the past. This is much to Hans B\u00f8ggild\u2019s and Mogens Levinsen’s annoyance. The same is the smoking of pipes in the lecture theatres for that matter. But the emeriti are still here.<\/p>\n

And people are happy about that. Head of the Niels Bohr Institute Jan W. Thomsen, for example, who praises the group of emeriti to high heaven:<\/p>\n

\u00bbOur emeriti are a part of the department’s soul. There are no salary-related issues to think about any longer, so they can therefore comment more freely than others can. We say that they are our external audit,\u00ab he says. But he also emphasizes the academic contributions:<\/p>\n

\u00bbThey publish the most amazing articles. I have just spoken to one of our emeriti, Bjarne Andresen, who has published an article that was highlighted as article of the year in Entropy, an international scientific journal. They also help guide the students, give them good counsel, and talk physics with them, where they share their fascination with the subject.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Jan W. Thomsen adds that not all emeriti keep up the same, high octane, efforts, and not all of the time. But they all stick to some kind of research activity:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt is a calling to be a physicist at NBI, you could say. This means that they continue to publish right to the end. They continue to focus on scientific questions and write articles and all these things. This is really impressive.\u00ab<\/p>\n

High volume in thoughts in very little space<\/h3>\n

Despite the goodwill of management, compromises need to be made. The employment relationship formally ceases at the age of retirement. This means that salary payments stop, and the emeriti gradually get less office space. This is a necessity for the department to be able to recruit new researchers:<\/p>\n

\u00bbMy office has got smaller and smaller,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild with a laugh. \u00bbI had a big fancy office when I was 70. I was allowed to keep this for two years after retiring. But now I’ve been moved to a tiny closet next to the coffee machine. It is okay. No complaints.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The 80-year-old physicist has just come from the first research group meeting of the year when the University Post meets him at the Blegdamsvej <\/em>address.
\n
\nThe group has just set off a big experiment that means that the particle accelerator of the CERN laboratory in Switzerland will be running round the clock for the next two to three years. Then the research group will take stock of the results, and adjust the setup before the accelerator is restarted again.<\/p>\n

\u00bbI have gradually started only contributing my opinion about things. Apart from that I’m just a fly on the wall,\u00ab he says with a twinkle in his eye.<\/p>\n

Just like the new experiment in Switzerland, Hans B\u00f8ggild expects to have at least a handful of years in him yet: \u00bbI have had a really exciting working life at the department. It has gone through many different phases, and new things happen constantly. So stopping when you turn 70 \u2014 that is far too early.\u00ab
\n<\/p>\n

A hobby with a built in job<\/h1>\n

Mogens Levinsen and Geirr Sletten also have the associate professor emeritus title at the Niels Bohr Institute. They highlight their academic fascination as the greatest driver of their continued commitment. They shake their heads dismissively when asked whether they could do everything else with their retirement:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt is fantastic to have a hobby that you have been paid for for more than 40 years,\u00ab says Mogens Levinsen and gesticulates. Nowadays, he shares an office with two other emeriti who, like him, are part of the chaos group, which deals with phenomena like turbulence and non-linear dynamics.<\/p>\n

It is fantastic to have a hobby that you have been paid for for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n

Emeritus Associate Professor Mogens Levinsen<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He is deeply involved with an experiment at the moment, and gets on well with his colleagues, which he also sees outside a work context. But the final, final retirement is just around the corner when the department moves from the historic buildings on Blegdamsvej to the new Niels Bohr Building on Jagtvej:<\/p>\n

\u00bbI’m not getting a space to work at the new department, I’ve been told. I can get two square metres in a shared office, so I will probably stop when the move takes place. Luckily, it looks like it will take a very long time before this happens,\u00ab he says, thereby setting off a round of throat-clearing from three other emeriti in the room. The new Niels Bohr Building project has gone through multiple delays and postponements.<\/p>\n

Head of department Jan W. Thomsen acknowledges that space is generally a challenge: \u00bbWe actually talk about two separate currencies at work in the department. One currency is cool cash, the other is physical space,\u00ab he says. \u00bbWe are constantly working to ensure that there is room for our emeriti, for our students and, of course, for our employees. This is like doing a big puzzle.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The impending relocation to the scandal-hit new building on Jagtvej<\/em> is a challenge for everyone, but perhaps, in particular, for the retired staff:<\/p>\n

\u00bbThey have, of course, a very special and life-long relationship with this building, but people have also generally accepted that if the entire department moves to a new address, then they must also move to where the new environment is.\u00ab<\/p>\n

And they will do this. Most of them certainly. They will continue to support the culture and make the trip through the adjoining F\u00e6lledparken park to the new buildings when the day of the big move comes upon them. Together with the students and staff of the esteemed department. They just can\u2019t help it.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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P\u00e5 v\u00e6ggene ses de traditionsrige fotografier af alle instituttets ansatte, der er blevet taget hvert \u00e5r i hele instituttets levetid. ","name":"emeritusserne_y9a3330-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":141753,"date":"2022-11-03 14:02:22","modified":"2022-11-03 14:11:47","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":5464,"height":8192,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-480x720.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":720,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-768x1151.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1151,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1919,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-1025x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1025,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330.jpg","2048x2048-width":1366,"2048x2048-height":2048,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-290x435.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":435,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-700x1049.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":1049,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emeritusserne_y9a3330-990x1484.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":1484}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"From left, Professor Emeritus Helge Stjernholm Kragh, Associate Professor Emeritus Hans B\u00f8gggild, Associate Professor Emeritus Mogens Levinsen and Associate Professor Emeritus Geirr Sletten. On the walls are the traditional photographs of all the department's staff, taken every year throughout the department's lifetime."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Community","text":"Niels Bohr Institutet p\u00e5 Blegdamsvej danner rammerne for et fagligt og socialt forskerf\u00e6lleskab, der kan v\u00e6re sv\u00e6rt at forlade, n\u00e5r pensionsalderen rammer. I dag har 43 aktive emeritusser fravalgt et velfortjent otium til fordel for frivillig undervisning og forskning p\u00e5 stadigt mindre kontorer.","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">F<\/span>or many years, the tables in the lunch room at the Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) on Blegdamsvej street were covered with large sheets of paper and cups with pencils like in a family restaurant. The writing tools were used diligently as the conversation took off between physicists from different research groups over lunch.<\/p>\n<p>The scientists jotted down illustrations and equations during meals to keep their colleagues up to date on current progress and on the physics paradoxes that were being attempted solved throughout the department. Or just to substantiate their arguments in an academic discussion.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI really liked that,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild, associate professor emeritus in experimental subatomic physics who was first hired at the department in 1967: \u00bbThis way, there was a social and professional interaction with colleagues from other fields also. You are, of course, interested in what is going on with a colleague’s exciting projects.\u00ab<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Danish physicist Niels Bohr himself came over during lunch and said, ‘I’ve heard that you want to study physics. This is a really good idea.\u2019 And I was happy to hear that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Associate Professor Emeritus Hans B\u00f8ggild on meeting Danish physicist Niels Bohr<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On a hot Copenhagen day in August 2022, four timeworn emeritus scientists are seated in the department’s fabled lecture theatre A, which during the last century played host to some of the greatest figures in the history of physics.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI graduated as a student in 1967, where I was employed as a temporary amanuensis. Not even an amanuensis, but a substitute amanuensis,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThis means you were kind of an assistant,\u00ab adds Mogens Levinsen, who is also Associate Professor Emeritus, \u00bbactually, a substitute for an assistant.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI started in 67, and I managed to have a 40-year anniversary here before I retired. You might have had 45 or 50?\u00ab Hans B\u00f8ggild continues, turning to Geir Sletten, who shrugs his shoulders and smiles:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI am 84 now, so I have had a bit longer.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI started out as a student at the same time as Hans in 1961, so I’ve known him ever since. But I’m not sure if he knew me,\u00ab says Mogens Levinsen.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOh stop. I must have done,\u00ab Hans B\u00f8ggild breaks in with a pat on the back of his colleague.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBut I spent a year doing the hippie thing in Afghanistan. So I did not finish until January 1969,\u00ab Levinsen continues, undeterred.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThen I was two years in Texas as a postdoc, and then I came to the H.C. \u00d8rsted Institute as an assistant professor.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOh, so you made it to assistant professor,\u00ab Hans B\u00f8ggild jokes with ironic appreciation.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbYes, I had been a postdoc.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOh yes, that’s right.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Laughter erupts in the room, and in response to the reporter’s obvious confusion, Levinsen adds:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThis is one step above amanuensis.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The lively conversation continues. Research, and life at the department, is not something that you just put on the shelf because of something as arbitrary as reaching a pensionable age.<\/p>\n<p>The 43 emeriti at the Niels Bohr Institute still publish. Last year, they wrote 154 peer-reviewed scientific articles on top of their other scientific input to the general public. They meet and eat lunch together once a month at least, and next year, two new emeriti will join the group.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":141763,"id":141763,"title":"Tusserne2","filename":"tusserne2.jpg","filesize":1885162,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/blegdamsvejs-originale-gangsters-emeritusserne-holder-ud-naar-de-fleste-holder-op\/tusserne2\/","alt":"","author":"90","description":"","caption":"Hans B\u00f8ggild udpeger sig selv p\u00e5 et Niels Bohr Institutets \u00e5rsbilleder fra starten af 1960'erne","name":"tusserne2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":141753,"date":"2022-11-03 14:22:07","modified":"2022-11-03 14:40:14","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2048,"height":1366,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-1536x1025.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1025,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1366,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne2-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Hans B\u00f8ggild points to himself on the Niels Bohr Institute photos from the early 1960s."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<h1>The Copenhagen spirit<\/h1>\n<p>The spirit and atmosphere of the Niels Bohr Institute is the stuff of legends. An egalitarian and unpretentious way of working has superseded the formal academic hierarchy between staff and students:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbFor as long as I’ve been at the department, I’ve never used the [formal Danish, ed.] \u2018De\u2019 form of address with anyone here. In fact, Bohr himself once came over to talk to me. I can’t remember whether I was on the informal \u2018du\u2019, or the formal \u2018De\u2019 terms with him, but otherwise everyone else is on informal terms, and everyone is allowed to say their opinion.\u00ab<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\">\n<p class=\"factbox-header feature-color\">Rebels in the cause of youth<\/p>\n<p>Even though the multitude of professors emeriti at the Niels Bohr Institute have no formal power, they are not without influence over fundamental decisions. Not even when big corporate interests make their entry into the sphere of research.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, a planned <strong>collaboration with Microsoft<\/strong> set off waves in the department, as several researchers feared that it would forced secrecy upon scientific results as part of the contract with the tech giant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Non-disclosure of results<\/strong> could, in particular, be a problem for those PhD students who cannot get a permanent position if they have not published their research:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe were all concerned that young people had to sign a document that deprived them of their rights. It was something we were all concerned with, but it was difficult because there was<strong> a lot of money involved<\/strong>,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild and continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe<strong> rebelled as emeriti<\/strong>, where we authored a joint letter and sent it to management. They then had to negotiate directly with Microsoft to have them delete the clause that kept results secret.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The letter from the professors emeritus apparently also influenced the department’s way of dealing with a <strong>research partnership with NATO<\/strong>, according to Mogens Levinsen:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI was at a meeting where management clearly stated that we would not sign a contract like this, this time, with NATO. They took our joint letter\u2019s advice, so we got something out of it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Here the University Post took the bait like a hungry fish: Hans B\u00f8ggild was asked to elaborate on the flat hierarchy and the informal exchange with Niels Bohr:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt was the year I started my studies. 1961. Danish physicist Niels Bohr himself came over during lunch and said, ‘I’ve heard that you want to study physics. This is a really good idea.\u2019 And I was happy to hear that. He unfortunately died the following year.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The discussion culture can be traced back to the first two decades of the Niels Bohr Institute’s lifetime in the 1920s and 1930s. The period was not just characterised by ground-breaking research into things like quantum mechanics which laid the foundation for modern technologies, but also the cultivation of a certain vitality that has become known internationally as The Copenhagen Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>This was expressed in the form of a flatter hierarchy and a playful approach to science that has been a source of inspiration for the rest of the world. This is according to Emeritus Professor Helge Stjernholm Kragh, who is a science historian:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt was unique because of the research you did, but also the way in which the department was organised socially. There was a freewheeling discussion culture, and they mixed play with seriousness in a way that was unknown at the time.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>According to Kragh’s assessment, this spirit is no longer peculiar to the Niels Bohr Institute:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt has almost become the norm today. We now know that if you want to have a well-functioning department, you cannot go back to the old authoritarian professors ruling, where you could not discuss freely with each other and the students.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h1>The most amazing papers, right up to the end<\/h1>\n<p>Just like the department’s founder, the writing implements in the lunchroom are now a thing of the past. This is much to Hans B\u00f8ggild\u2019s and Mogens Levinsen’s annoyance. The same is the smoking of pipes in the lecture theatres for that matter. But the emeriti are still here.<\/p>\n<p>And people are happy about that. Head of the Niels Bohr Institute Jan W. Thomsen, for example, who praises the group of emeriti to high heaven:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOur emeriti are a part of the department’s soul. There are no salary-related issues to think about any longer, so they can therefore comment more freely than others can. We say that they are our external audit,\u00ab he says. But he also emphasizes the academic contributions:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThey publish the most amazing articles. I have just spoken to one of our emeriti, Bjarne Andresen, who has published an article that was highlighted as article of the year in Entropy, an international scientific journal. They also help guide the students, give them good counsel, and talk physics with them, where they share their fascination with the subject.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Jan W. Thomsen adds that not all emeriti keep up the same, high octane, efforts, and not all of the time. But they all stick to some kind of research activity:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is a calling to be a physicist at NBI, you could say. This means that they continue to publish right to the end. They continue to focus on scientific questions and write articles and all these things. This is really impressive.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>High volume in thoughts in very little space<\/h3>\n<p>Despite the goodwill of management, compromises need to be made. The employment relationship formally ceases at the age of retirement. This means that salary payments stop, and the emeriti gradually get less office space. This is a necessity for the department to be able to recruit new researchers:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbMy office has got smaller and smaller,\u00ab says Hans B\u00f8ggild with a laugh. \u00bbI had a big fancy office when I was 70. I was allowed to keep this for two years after retiring. But now I’ve been moved to a tiny closet next to the coffee machine. It is okay. No complaints.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The 80-year-old physicist has just come from the first research group meeting of the year when the University Post meets him at the <em>Blegdamsvej <\/em>address.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Quote","quote":"It is a real calling to be a physicist at NBI, you could say. This means that they continue to publish right to the end.","quotee":"Jan W. Thomsen, Head of Department, Niels Bohr Institute","style":"extended"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>The group has just set off a big experiment that means that the particle accelerator of the CERN laboratory in Switzerland will be running round the clock for the next two to three years. Then the research group will take stock of the results, and adjust the setup before the accelerator is restarted again.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI have gradually started only contributing my opinion about things. Apart from that I’m just a fly on the wall,\u00ab he says with a twinkle in his eye.<\/p>\n<p>Just like the new experiment in Switzerland, Hans B\u00f8ggild expects to have at least a handful of years in him yet: \u00bbI have had a really exciting working life at the department. It has gone through many different phases, and new things happen constantly. So stopping when you turn 70 \u2014 that is far too early.\u00ab<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":141765,"id":141765,"title":"Tusserne3","filename":"tusserne3.jpg","filesize":1246638,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/blegdamsvejs-originale-gangsters-emeritusserne-holder-ud-naar-de-fleste-holder-op\/tusserne3\/","alt":"","author":"90","description":"","caption":"Hans B\u00f8ggild viser frem af reolens gemmer p\u00e5 det lille, men rydelige kontor ved siden af kaffemaskinen. Her en udgave af Gamma, et tidsskrift for fysik, fra 1970'erne ","name":"tusserne3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":141753,"date":"2022-11-03 14:22:09","modified":"2022-11-03 14:40:14","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1366,"height":2048,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-480x720.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":720,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-768x1151.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1151,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-1280x1919.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1919,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-1025x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":1025,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3.jpg","2048x2048-width":1366,"2048x2048-height":2048,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-290x435.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":435,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-700x1049.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":1049,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne3-990x1484.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":1484}},"style":"narrow","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Hans B\u00f8ggild picks up a journal from the shelf in his tiny, but tidy office next to the coffee machine. Here is an edition of Gamma, a physics journal from the 1970s."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<h1>A hobby with a built in job<\/h1>\n<p>Mogens Levinsen and Geirr Sletten also have the associate professor emeritus title at the Niels Bohr Institute. They highlight their academic fascination as the greatest driver of their continued commitment. They shake their heads dismissively when asked whether they could do everything else with their retirement:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt is fantastic to have a hobby that you have been paid for for more than 40 years,\u00ab says Mogens Levinsen and gesticulates. Nowadays, he shares an office with two other emeriti who, like him, are part of the chaos group, which deals with phenomena like turbulence and non-linear dynamics.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is fantastic to have a hobby that you have been paid for for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Emeritus Associate Professor Mogens Levinsen<\/p>\n<p> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He is deeply involved with an experiment at the moment, and gets on well with his colleagues, which he also sees outside a work context. But the final, final retirement is just around the corner when the department moves from the historic buildings on Blegdamsvej to the new Niels Bohr Building on Jagtvej:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI’m not getting a space to work at the new department, I’ve been told. I can get two square metres in a shared office, so I will probably stop when the move takes place. Luckily, it looks like it will take a very long time before this happens,\u00ab he says, thereby setting off a round of throat-clearing from three other emeriti in the room. The new Niels Bohr Building project has gone through multiple delays and postponements.<\/p>\n<p>Head of department Jan W. Thomsen acknowledges that space is generally a challenge: \u00bbWe actually talk about two separate currencies at work in the department. One currency is cool cash, the other is physical space,\u00ab he says. \u00bbWe are constantly working to ensure that there is room for our emeriti, for our students and, of course, for our employees. This is like doing a big puzzle.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The impending relocation to the scandal-hit new building on <em>Jagtvej<\/em> is a challenge for everyone, but perhaps, in particular, for the retired staff:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThey have, of course, a very special and life-long relationship with this building, but people have also generally accepted that if the entire department moves to a new address, then they must also move to where the new environment is.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>And they will do this. Most of them certainly. They will continue to support the culture and make the trip through the adjoining F\u00e6lledparken park to the new buildings when the day of the big move comes upon them. Together with the students and staff of the esteemed department. They just can\u2019t help it.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":141761,"id":141761,"title":"Tusserne1","filename":"tusserne1.jpg","filesize":1984019,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/blegdamsvejs-originale-gangsters-emeritusserne-holder-ud-naar-de-fleste-holder-op\/tusserne1\/","alt":"","author":"90","description":"","caption":"De fire emeritusser fotograferet bag Niels Bohrs arbejdsbord, der st\u00e5r i det intakte arbejdsv\u00e6relse p\u00e5 Blegdamsvej","name":"tusserne1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":141753,"date":"2022-11-03 14:22:05","modified":"2022-11-03 14:40:14","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2048,"height":1366,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-1280x854.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":854,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-1536x1025.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1025,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1366,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"The four professors emeritus photographed behind the work table of Niels Bohr, which is in the intact original office on Blegdamsvej."},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with our top stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":43,"name":"Culture","slug":"culture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":43,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":562,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":18,"name":"Feature Article","slug":"feature_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":1200,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":674,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/tusserne1-1280x854.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142610"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142667,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142610\/revisions\/142667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}