Horseshoe Logic

Sham S. Misri

Niels Henrik David Bohr (1885-1962)

Niels Bohr was a Danish physicist and one of the foremost scientists in modern physics. He was renowned for modelling the internal structure of atom. He never believed in superstitions. But one day an American scientist visited the offices of the great Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen, and was amazed to find a horseshoe was nailed to the wall over his desk.

The American said with a nervous laugh, "Surely you don't believe that horseshoe will bring you good luck, do you, Professor Bohr?"

“No, no!” replied Bohr, shunning the subject, “Who said I believe in this nonsense? Not at all. However, I am told that a horseshoe will bring you good luck whether you believe in it or not!  How can one argue with such logic?"

‘But, then, why have you …? ‘   Asked the American scientist.

‘Well, it still works, even if you don’t believe in it!’ replied Bohr smiling.