Erling Christophersen (April 17, 1898 – November 9, 1994) was a Norwegian botanist, geographer and diplomat. He participated in and led several notable
scientific expeditions in the 20th century, including the fifth
Tanager Expedition
The ''Tanager'' Expedition was a series of five biological surveys of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands conducted in partnership between the Bureau of Biological Survey and the Bishop Museum, with the assistance of the United States Navy. Four ex ...
(1924) to
Nihoa
Nihoa (; haw, Nīhoa ), also known as Bird Island or Moku Manu, is the tallest of ten islands and atolls in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). The island is located at the southern end of the NWHI chain, southeast of N ...
and
Necker Island and the
Norwegian Scientific Expedition to
Tristan da Cunha
Tristan da Cunha (), colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately from Cape Town in South Africa, from Saint Helena ...
(1937–1938).
Early life
Christophersen was born in
Christiania,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
(now known as
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
) in 1898. He attended the
University of Christiania
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 ...
from 1918–1921, and received his Ph.D from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1924.
Christophersen's dissertation, "Soil reaction and plant distribution in the Sylene National Park, Norway", focused on the art and science of applied forest ecology, or
silviculture, of alpine plants in Norway.
[ See also: ]
Career
Christophersen was a professor of botany at the
University of Hawaii from 1929-1932. He was instrumental in developing and leading the scientific expedition to Tristan da Cunha from 1937-1938. His book, ''Tristan da Cunha, the lonely island'' (1938), is an account of the expedition.
Selected publications
*
*
*"Vascular plants of Johnston and Wake Islands" (1931)
*"Plants of Gough Islands" (1934)
*"Flowering plants of Samoa" (1935)
*''Tristan da Cunha, the Lonely Isle'' (1938)
See also
*''
Amaranthus brownii
''Amaranthus brownii'' was an annual herb in the family Amaranthaceae. The plant was found only on the small island of Nihoa in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, growing on rocky outcrops at altitudes of . It was one of nine species of ''Amaran ...
''
*''
Diospyros christophersenii''
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christophersen, Erling
1898 births
1994 deaths
20th-century Norwegian botanists
Diplomats from Oslo
Yale University alumni
University of Hawaiʻi faculty
Scientists from Oslo