Adolf Hoel (15 May 1879 – 19 February 1964) was a Norwegian

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

, environmentalist and

Polar region The polar regions, also called the frigid zones or polar zones, of Earth are the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by flo ...

researcher. He led several scientific expeditions to Svalbard and

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

. Hoel has been described as one of the most iconic and influential figures in Norwegian polar exploration in the first half of the 20th century, alongside

Fridtjof Nansen Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (; 10 October 186113 May 1930) was a Norwegian polymath and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He gained prominence at various points in his life as an explorer, scientist, diplomat, and humanitarian. He led the team t ...

and

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Amundsen beg ...

.De glemte heltene i isen
/ref> His focus on and research of the polar areas has been largely credited as the reason Norway has sovereignty over

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group rang ...

and

Queen Maud Land Queen Maud Land ( no, Dronning Maud Land) is a roughly region of Antarctica claimed by Norway as a dependent territory. It borders the claimed British Antarctic Territory 20° west and the Australian Antarctic Territory 45° east. In addi ...

in the Antarctica. Hoel was the founding director of the

Norwegian Polar Institute The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI; no, Norsk Polarinstitutt) is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Min ...

and served as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

and as President of the

Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature The Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature ( no, Norges Naturvernforbund, NNV), also known as Friends of the Earth Norway, is one of the largest Norwegian environmental organisations with approximately 24,000 members. The organisation ...

Honours

The mineral hoelite, the Adolf Hoel Glacier in Greenland and the Hoel Mountains in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

are named in his honour.

Biography

Hoel was born in

Sørum Sørum was a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Sørumsand. Sørum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 ( ...

Akershus Akershus () is a traditional region and current electoral district in Norway, with Oslo as its main city and traditional capital. It is named after the Akershus Fortress in Oslo. From the middle ages to 1919, Akershus was a fief and main cou ...

, Norway. He attended

Hans Nielsen Hauge Hans Nielsen Hauge (3 April 1771 – 29 March 1824) was a 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran lay minister, spiritual leader, business entrepreneur, social reformer and author. He led a noted Pietism revival known as the Haugean movement. Hauge is als ...

s Minde in Oslo and the

taking his cand.real. examination in 1904. He married Elisabeth Birgitte Fredrikke Thomsen in 1916. Beginning in 1909 Hoel took part in about 30 Norwegian government-sponsored expeditions to Arctic areas, becoming also the main driving force behind Norwegian scientific activities in East Greenland. Hoel became a fellow of the

in 1911 and a

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

in 1919. In the second half of the 1920s Hoel took up the cause of Norwegian claims in East Greenland. Together with

Gustav Smedal Gustav Smedal (28 December 1888 – 30 October 1951) was a Norwegian jurist and irredentist activist. He was born in Kristiania to Prosecutor General and Minister Harald Smedal (1859–1911) and Caroline Kirkgaard Hofgaard (1863–89). He graduat ...

, Hoel eventually became the main leader of the "Greenland case" (Grønlandssaken) that tried to bring East Greenland under Norwegian sovereignty. Inspired by trapper

Hallvard Devold Hallvard Ophuus Devold (8 November 1898 – 10 September 1957) was a Norwegian Arctic explorer, trapper and meteorologist. He was instrumental in the attempt to establish Eric the Red's Land in 1931. His brother Finn Devold (1902–1977) share ...

the movement began to build a network of trapping stations, combined with surveying and exploring the almost uninhabited area. By 1929 the ''

Norges Svalbard og Ishavsundersøkelser The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI; no, Norsk Polarinstitutt) is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Min ...

'' (NSIU) —"Norwegian Svalbard and Arctic Ocean Survey" established by Hoel in 1928, sent well-organized research expeditions to East Greenland. Expedition vessels also supplied the trapping stations with equipment financed by the

Arctic Trading Co. Arctic Trading Co. ( no, Arktisk Næringsdrift) was a Norwegian company founded on 24 June 1929. The company had commercial interests in East Greenland in the areas of fishing, hunting and trapping. It also operated the Myggbukta radio and meteorol ...

''(Arktisk Næringsdrift)'', a company that Hoel had helped to set up. In 1933, he became a member of the

Nasjonal Samling Nasjonal Samling (, NS; ) was a Norwegian far-right political party active from 1933 to 1945. It was the only legal party of Norway from 1942 to 1945. It was founded by former minister of defence Vidkun Quisling and a group of supporters such ...

party of the former

minister of defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally list of heads of government of Norway, headed the government of Norway during t ...

, largely due to the Norwegian nationalist approach to the Norwegian occupation of a part of Greenland in the early 1930s. Hoel was appointed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

of the University of Oslo in 1940 and was rector of the university from 1941 to 1945, during the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

. He was the leading Norwegian researcher at

in the early 20th century, and in 1948 the ''Norges Svalbard- og Ishavsundersøkelser'', which he had founded, became the

. He was President of the

from 1935 to 1945. After World War II, he finished his work for the Norwegian Polar Institute on the history of Svalbard (''Svalbard. Svalbards historie 1596-1965'') which was published as a three-volume set after his death.

References

1879 births 1964 deaths People from Sørum University of Oslo alumni Members of Nasjonal Samling Norwegian environmentalists University of Oslo faculty Rectors of the University of Oslo People convicted of treason for Nazi Germany against Norway 20th-century Norwegian scientists 20th-century Norwegian educators 20th-century Norwegian geologists {{Norway-scientist-stub