Niels Bohr Institute sculptor Rikke Raben for the Niels Bohr Institute. On the front is a portrait of Niels Bohr, the atom sign and stars. The illustration on the back is inspired by a quote from Bohr: "What is it that we human beings ultimately depend on? We depend on our words. We are suspended in language. Our task is to communicate experience and ideas to others". On the back of the medal: "Unity of Knowledge" – the title of a lecture given by Bohr at Columbia University in 1954. "Nosce te ipsum" is Latin and means "know thyself". This quote originates from
Peter Abelard in the 12th–13th centuries. Abelard was an enormous influence on his contemporaries and the course of medieval philosophical thought, but he has been known in modern times mainly for his connection with Héloïse. Only one of his strictly philosophical works, the ethical treatise "Scito te ipsum", had been published before the 19th century, in 1721. It was only with the publication by Cousin in 1836 of the collection entitled "Ouvrages inedits d'Abelard" that Abelard's philosophical work began to be studied more closely. Cousin's collection gave extracts from the theological work "Sic et Non" ("Yes and No") which is an assemblage