Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (7 November 1850 – 20 January 1921) was a Swedish Arctic explorer,

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

, and palaeobotanist. He travelled to Spitzbergen, Svalbard and Greenland where he took an interest in the Arctic floras from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods.

Life

Nathorst was born in Väderbrunn in Sweden to Hjalmar Otto and Maria Charlotta born Georgii, who had moved to Alnarp where Hjalmar served as a professor at the institute of agriculture. Nathorst studied at Malmö before joining the University of Lund in 1868. He spent some time in the University of Uppsala and returned to Lund for his doctorate in 1874. His interest in botany were influenced by N. P. Angelin. Nathorst's interest in

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

was awakened by

Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known today for his association with Charles ...

's ''Principles of Geology'' and, at the age of 21, Nathorst visited Lyell in England in 1872. Nathorst was employed at the

Geological Survey of Sweden ''not to be confused with the Geologiska föreningen ()'' Geological Survey of Sweden (, SGU) is a Government agencies in Sweden, Swedish government agency that was founded by Axel Erdmann in 1858, that supervises all mineral deposits activities ( ...

in 1873–84. He was then appointed professor, by royal decree on the 5 December 1884, and was simultaneously made curator of the new "Department of Archegoniates and Fossil Plants" at the

Swedish Museum of Natural History The Swedish Museum of Natural History (), in Stockholm, is one of two major museums of natural history in Sweden, the other one being located in Gothenburg. The museum was founded in 1819 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but goes bac ...

. He remained at this post until his retirement in 1917. Nathorst visited

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...

in 1870 and in 1882–83 he participated in the ''Second Dickson expedition'' ("Den andra Dicksonska Expeditionen till Grönland") led by

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (; 18 November 183212 August 1901) was a Finland-Swedish aristocrat, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer. He was a member of the noble Nordenskiöld family of scientists and held the title of a friherre (ba ...

. He led an expedition on the ship ''

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

'' to Bear Island and

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

including the isolated

Kong Karls Land Kong Karls Land or King Charles Land is an island group in the Svalbard archipelago, in the Arctic Ocean. The island group covers an area of and is made up of the islands of Kongsøya, Svenskøya, Abel Island, Helgoland Island, and Tirpitzø ...

in 1898. The following year (1899), Nathorst led an expedition to

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. This second expedition had the dual purpose of geographical mapping and of searching for survivors of

S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

. The Andreé expedition was not found, however Nathorst found and mapped the Antarctic Sound, a fjord branch connecting Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord to the north with the head of King Oscar Fjord to the south. The two expeditions are described in two volumes ''Två somrar i Norra Ishavet'' (in Swedish). Starting with macrofossil deposited in

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

clay found in

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

in 1871, Nathorst investigated postglacial development in plants. He also researched plant remains from older geological eras, such as the

palaeozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

and

mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

from the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

and

tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

from Japan. These investigations made him an internationally acknowledged authority on

palaeobotany Paleobotany or palaeobotany, also known as paleophytology, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant fossils from geology, geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environme ...

. Nathorst had a scientific dispute with

Eugen Warming Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (3 November 1841 – 2 April 1924), known as Eugen Warming, was a Danish botanist and a main founding figure of the scientific discipline of ecology. Warming wrote the first textbook (1895) on plant ecology, tau ...

over the history of the

flora of Greenland The flora of Greenland consists of a total of 583 species or 614 taxa (species and subspecies) of vascular plants, of which 13 are endemic, and 87 taxa introduced by humans, most of which are naturalized. Apiaceae *''Angelica archangelica'' – n ...

. Warming hypothesised that part of the flora had survived the last

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

– the nunatak hypothesis, while Nathorst considered that the entire flora had immigrated anew after the glaciation – the tabula rasa hypothesis. He was an elected member of many learned societies, including the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

(1885). He died on 20 January 1921.

Legacy

A number of plant, animal and fungal species have been named to his honour, e.g. '' Saxifraga nathorstii'' ( Dusén) Hayek (East Greenland saxifrage) and a suite of fossil plant species, '' Williamsonia nathorstii'' Carruthers (a fossil

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

) and '' Laestadites nathorstii'' Mesch. (a fossil fungus).

Nathorst Land Nathorst Land is the land area between Van Keulenfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The area is named after Alfred Gabriel Nathorst Alfred Gabriel Nathorst (7 November 1850 – 20 January 1921) was a Swedish Arctic e ...

in East Central

is named after him. On

and Nathorstbreen are named after him. Also Alfredfjellet, a mountain at the island of Bjørnøya, is named after him.

Sources

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nathorst, Alfred Gabriel 1850 births 1921 deaths Explorers of the Arctic Geological Survey of Sweden personnel Lyell Medal winners Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Paleobotanists Swedish polar explorers 20th-century Swedish geologists Swedish paleontologists 19th-century Swedish geologists Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala People from Nyköping Municipality

Life

Legacy

See also

Sources

External links