While pondering the implications of that model, Bohr became acquainted with Johannes Rydberg's studies of spectral lines and with J. J. Balmer's formula. As Bohr himself recalled in 1934, "As soon as I saw Balmer's formula the whole thing was immediately clear to me." The "thing" was the recognition on Bohr's part that basically different laws govern the atom when it is not in its stationary state but is absorbing or emitting radiation. He was no longer at Rutherford's laboratory when he succeeded in developing this revolutionary notion into a consistent and concise picture of the atom.
Meanwhile, in 1912 Bohr married Margrethe Norlund shortly after his return to Copenhagen, where he was appointed assistant professor at the university.
When Bohr asked Rutherford to recommend his now historic paper "On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules" for publication, Rutherford admitted that Bohr's ideas as to the mode of origin of the spectra of hydrogen were very ingenious and worked very well, but he was unwilling to agree with Bohr's own evaluation of the paper. It took a special trip by Bohr to Rutherford in Manchester and a series of evenings during which the two carefully went over every paragraph in the paper before Rutherford's objections could be overcome.
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