Björn Gunnlaugsson (25 September 1788 – 17 March 1876)
[Benedikz, p. 568ff.] was an
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and
cartographer. For the
Icelandic Literary Society The Icelandic Literary Society (Hið Íslenzka Bókmenntafélag), founded in 1816, is a society dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language, literature and learning.
The society was founded in 1816, when the Icelandic independence ...
, he surveyed the country from 1831 to 1843. The results of his work were published in a
topographic
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...
map of Iceland at a scale of 1:480,000 on four sheets.
[Sævarsson.] It was the first complete map of Iceland and, although generally dated to 1844, was not completed until 1848. It was published under the direction of
Olaf Nikolas Olsen in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. In 1849, a smaller edition on one sheet at a scale of 1:960,000 appeared. For his survey work, Björn received the
Order of the Dannebrog in 1846 and the French
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in 1859.
[Þorvaldur Thoroddsen, p. 317.]
Life
Björn was born at Tannstaðir, a remote farm on the
Hrútafjörður in
Húnavatnssýsla in north-western Iceland. Although the family was poor, they sent him to school to the local priests, who recognized his intellectual abilities. In 1808, Björn passed an exam in
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
, obtaining a recommendation by the bishop for studying at the university of Copenhagen. But these plans were delayed by the
Gunboat War
The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Na ...
between
Denmark-Norway and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Only after the end of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
could Björn travel to Denmark and enrolled in 1817 at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...
, where he studied
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and mathematics.
During his studies, he won the university's gold medal for mathematics twice.
[Kaalund, p. 321.]
In 1822, a new post for a school teacher in
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
, mathematics, and history opened at the
school of Bessastaðir in Iceland and was offered to Björn. He abandoned his theologic studies and accepted the post, returning to Iceland and taking up his duties as a school teacher on 14 May 1822.
[Obituary.] When the school was moved to Reykjavík in 1846, Björn followed. Five years later he was appointed chief assistant (''Yfirkennari'') to the rector. He retired in 1862.
Björn Gunnlaugsson was married twice; first to Ragnheiður Bjarnadóttir (died 1834), after her death he married in 1844
[Benedikz, p. 571; mentioning that Björn and Guðlaug were married for 37 years. He also mentions that both marriages were happy.] Guðlaug Aradóttir (died 1873).
Work
Björn was an exceptional figure in early 19th-century Iceland. The abstract thoughts of this gentle learned man were beyond the grasp of most of his compatriots, who regarded him as an eccentric with few of the practical skills they so highly valued.
[Benedikz, p. 582f.] Yet the simple folk also felt a certain kind of respectful awe towards this scholar.
[Benedikz, p. 567.]
Björn knew the inclination towards the practical of his fellow countrymen well. When he returned to Iceland as a school teacher for mathematics, the curriculum at the grammar school at
Bessastaðir
Bessastaðir () is the official residence of the president of Iceland. It is situated in Álftanes, about from the capital city, Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, ...
covered barely more than the four basic operations addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
[Benedikz, p. 583f.] In his inauguration speech at the school, he emphasized the practical applications of mathematics.
[Bjarnadóttir, p. 141.] He tried to take mathematics education to a higher level,
[Bjarnadóttir, p. 142.] but failed ultimately as his treatment of the subject was often too abstract for his pupils and he was, according to Benedikz, "not capable of handling a class of mathematical ignoramuses".
[Benedikz, p. 584.]
The only studied mathematician in Iceland in the 19th century, Björn was isolated from the academic community in Europe, and the intellectual environment made him turn to the didactics and the applications of mathematics, and also to philosophy.
Uppdráttr Íslands – Map of Iceland
In August 1829, Björn, who had done in the early 1820s cartographic work under the direction of
Heinrich Christian Schumacher
Prof Heinrich Christian Schumacher FRS(For) FRSE (3 September 1780 – 28 December 1850) was a German- Danish astronomer and mathematician.
Biography
Schumacher was born at Bramstedt, in Holstein, near the German/Danish border. He was educ ...
at
Altona,
proposed to the Danish government to undertake a land survey of Iceland, and asked for the instruments used by the
Danish Navy in their earlier coastal surveys to be sent to Iceland. His request was ignored at first. In 1831, the Literary Society of Iceland decided to sponsor him and helped him obtain the necessary instruments. From 1831 to 1843, Björn spent the summers surveying the country together with one assistant, and in the winters he would draw the maps. He did not lay a new
baseline but started from the earlier coastal surveys the Danish Navy had undertaken in the period of 1774 to 1818,
[Benedikz, p. 571.] extending the
triangulation inland. The Literary Society supported him with a yearly grant, and so did the Danish government from 1836 to 1846.
[Sigurðsson.]
Björn's hand-drawn maps were sent to Copenhagen for preparing the publication.
Olaf Nikolas Olsen had been appointed as the director of publication; he proposed to publish the map on four sheets, and he probably also defined the scale of 1:480,000 and the
conical projection used. The map was published under Olsen's name, with the Literary Society of Iceland as the publisher, and paid by the Danish treasury. The title page was in Danish and French. Although dated 1844, it was probably not completed until 1848. In 1849, a smaller version of the map on one sheet at a scale of 1:960,000 was published.
Björn's survey formed the basis of many subsequent maps of Iceland for the next hundred years; new maps based on new surveys appeared only after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
It was an immense work, and Björn realized soon enough that one man alone would not be able to triangulate the whole island in his lifetime, and focussed his attention on the inhabited areas. Yet he managed to survey a good part of the wilderness, too, even if he had to rely on the accounts of the local population in some remote areas. Björn was well aware of the inaccuracies in some regions; already in 1834 he wrote that one "should neither have too high or too low expectations of the map, nor trust too greatly nor too little in its usefulness or accuracy".
[Gunnlaugsson (1834); translation from Danish and Latin by Benedikz, p. 583.] The central highlands were sketchy on his map; they were mapped properly for the first time by
Þorvaldur Thoroddsen, whose map was printed in 1901. Still Björn's survey is considered a great advancement, especially given the limited resources he had at his disposition.
In recognition of his outstanding survey work Björn Gunnlaugsson was awarded the Knight's cross of the
Order of the Dannebrog in 1846 and also received the Knight's cross of the French
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.
[Melsteð & Jensson.] The map was also exhibited at the
World's fair
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
at
Paris in 1878, where it was awarded a prize.
[Elberling.]
''Njóla'' – "Night"
''Njóla'' is a long
didactic theological-philosophical poem Björn wrote mostly during his survey travels when the weather did not permit him to work or in the evenings. It was published originally in the annual report of 1842 of the Bessastaðir school, and then in 1853 with some minor revisions and again in 1884 in Reykjavík.
The poem begins by describing a night view of the skies, and then introduces the reader to astronomic distances, explaining how long a cannonball shot from the sun would take to reach each of the planets—and then the next star.
[Benedikz, p. 572ff.] In later stanzas, he describes the birth of the universe, covers
Newton's laws
Newton's laws of motion are three basic laws of classical mechanics that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws can be paraphrased as follows:
# A body remains at rest, or in motio ...
and explains
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
.
[Benedikz, p. 578f.] He interweaves such physics and mathematics framed as poetry with theological and philosophical musings about the purpose of the universe, the nature of good and evil, and God's intent.
[Benedikz, p. 580f.]
''Tölvísi'': A mathematical textbook
Towards the end of his teaching career, Björn wrote down the mathematics he would have liked to teach in the ''Tölvísi'', a mathematical textbook unprecedented in Iceland, both in its breadth and depth, but also in the rigor of its proofs.
[Benedikz, p. 585ff.] Moreover, it was written in
Icelandic; in an attempt to make mathematics more accessible to his fellow countrymen, Björn even tried to find Icelandic names for mathematical concepts that hitherto had only been named using Danish or Latin words. But the work was largely ignored, and Björn's Icelandic terms never caught on.
[Benedikz, pp. 583–585.] Begun in 1856,
[Benedikz, p. 583: "in his sixty-eighth year".] volume 1 was published in Reykjavík in 1865 by E. Þórðarson,
[Benedikz, p. 590.] but its second part was still unpublished in 2003 and existed only as an unpublished manuscript at the
National and University Library of Iceland
Landsbókasafn Íslands – Háskólabókasafn ( Icelandic: ; English: ''The National and University Library of Iceland'') is the national library of Iceland which also functions as the university library of the University of Iceland. The librar ...
.
[Benedikz, p. 585.] Gunnlaugsson's first biographers, Melsteð and Jensson, wrote that it was "a book praised by all but read by extremely few".
[Benedikz, p. 585, citing Melsteð & Jensson, p. 8.]
Notes
* In English, Björn's name is sometimes also given as ''Bjorn Gunnlaugsson'', omitting the
diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
on the
Ö.
* Björn's birthday is variously given as May 25, September 5 and September 28, see Otto J. Björnsson 1990, p. 3.
* Before Björn's arrival, the school at Bessastaðir had had a staff of three teachers only, none of them knowledgeable in mathematics.
[Benedikz, pp. 569, 584.]
References
Literature
*Benedikt S. Benedikz: "The Wise Man with the Child's Heart: Björn Gunnlaugsson, 1788–1876", in ''Scandinavian Studies 75 (4)'', pp. 567–590; 2003. ISSN 0036-5637.
*Kristín Bjarnadóttir:
Fundamental Reasons for Mathematical Education in Iceland, in
Bharath Sriraman
Bharath Sriraman (born 1971) is an Indian-born Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Montana – Missoula and an academic editor, known for his interdisciplinary contributions at the nexus of math-science-arts, theory developme ...
(Ed): ''International Perspectives on Social Justice in Mathematics Education'' (
The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast (TMME) Monograph 1), p. 137–150; University of Montana, 2007. ISSN 1551-3440. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
*Ágúst H. Bjarnason: "Um Björn Gunnlaugsson", in ''Timarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga'', vol. 20 (1938), pp. 17–28.
*Emil Elberling:
Gunnlaugsson, Björn', entry in Th. Westrin (ed.): ''
Nordisk familjebok: Konversationslexikon och Realencyklopedi'', 2nd ed. (1909), vol. 10, p. 643. URL last accessed 2007-09-19.
*Björn Gunnlaugsson: ''De mensura et delineatione Islandiae'', Viðey, 1834.
*
Kr. Kaalund:
Gunnlaugsson, Bjørn', entry in
C. F. Bricka (ed.): ''
Dansk biografisk lexikon: tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537–1814''; Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1887–1905; vol. VI (1892), p. 321f. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
*
Páll Melsteð & Björn Jensson: "Björn Gunnlaugsson", in ''Andvari'', vol. 9 (1883), pp. 3–16.
*P.M.
Obituary for Björn Gunnlaugsson ''Ísafold'', 24 March 1876, p. 21. In Icelandic. URL last accessed 2012-11-08.
*Jökull Sævarsson:
Gunnlaugsson's map of Iceland', (with text from Sigurðsson (1982)), Antique maps of Iceland, National and University Library of Iceland. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
*Haraldur Sigurðsson:
Iceland on maps., pp. 7–15 in ''Kortasafn Háskóla Íslands'', Reykjavík 1982. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
*Otto J. Björnsson: ''Brot úr ævi og starfi Björns Gunnlaugssonar riddara og yfirkennara''; Reykjavík, Raunvísindastofnun Háskólans, 1990. In Icelandic.
*
Þorvaldur Thoroddsen: ''Landfræðissaga Íslands''; 4 volumes, Copenhagen; S. L. Möller, 1892–1904. In Icelandic. On Björn Gunnlaugsson, see in particular vol. 3, pp. 300ff.
Further reading
*Otto J. Björnsson: ''Varð Gauss á vegi Björns Gunnlaugssonar?''; Reykjavík, Raunvísindastofnun Háskólans, 1997. In Icelandic.
*Halldór Hermannsson: ''The Cartography of Iceland''; ''Islandica XXI'', Fiske Icelandic Collection,
Cornell University Library, 1931.
*Steindór Sigurðsson: "Björn Gunnlaugsson og Uppdráttur Íslands"; ''Skírnir'' 111 (1938), pp. 166–173. In Icelandic.
External links
The 1849 edition of Gunnlaugsson's map
*Björn Gunnlaugsson
''Tøblur yfir Sólarinnar sýnilega gáng á Íslandi''Viðeyar Klaustri, 1836. Sun
declination tables. In Icelandic. URL last accessed 2007-09-15.
*N.N.:
200 ára afmælis Björns Gunnlaugsonnar minnst', ''
Morgunblaðið'', 24 September 1988, p. 19. Newspaper article on the occasion of the bicentennial of Gunnlaugsson's birthday. In Icelandic. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
*Ágústa P. Snæland:
"Hvað æðst sýnist í heimi"', ''Lesbók Morgunblaðsins'', May 15, 1993. Newspaper article on ''Njóla'', in Icelandic; has an image of the portrait of Gunnlaugsson by Sigurður málari. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunnlaugsson, Bjorn
1788 births
1876 deaths
Bjorn Gunnlaugsson
Bjorn Gunnlaugsson
Bjorn Gunnlaugsson
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog
Bjorn Gunnlaugsson
19th-century mathematicians