Erik Edlund (14 March 1819 in

Närke Närke () is a Provinces of Sweden, Swedish traditional province, or ''landskap'', situated in Svealand in south central Sweden. It is bordered by Västmanland to the north, Södermanland to the east, Östergötland to the southeast, Västergö ...

Province – 19 August 1888 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. His scientific research was confined chiefly to the theory of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

. He helped secure the introduction of

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

s to Sweden.

Biography

He obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in physics in 1845 at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

under Svanberg. Edlund then worked under

Weber Weber (, or ; German: ) is a surname of German origin, derived from the noun meaning " weaver". In some cases, following migration to English-speaking countries, it has been anglicised to the English surname 'Webber' or even 'Weaver'. Notable pe ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

for two years after obtaining his Ph.D. Edlund was employed as a professor of physics by the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) 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 ...

in 1850, and became a member of the academy in 1851. In 1858, he became a member of the

Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala The Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskaps-Societeten i Uppsala), is the oldest of the royal academies in Sweden, having been founded in 1710. The society has, by royal decree of 1906, 50 Swedish fellows and 100 foreign. ...

, and also of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture The Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry ( sv, Kungliga Skogs- och Lantbruksakademien), formerly the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture (''Kungl. Lantbruksakademien''), founded in 1813 at the initiative of Crown Prince Charles, is on ...

; the latter academy made him an honorary member in 1878. In 1858, Edlund was instrumental in securing the introduction of

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

stations in Sweden. He conducted these observatories until 1873, when a central meteorological station was erected. The meteorological observations made by Edlund from 1858 to 1873 were published in 14 volumes by the Academy of Sciences. Edlund is notable as the doctoral advisor of

Svante Arrhenius Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedes, Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received ...

. In 1872, he was elected to the lower house of the

Parliament of Sweden The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

Research

Edlund investigated

fluid In physics, a fluid is a liquid, gas, or other material that continuously deforms (''flows'') under an applied shear stress, or external force. They have zero shear modulus, or, in simpler terms, are substances which cannot resist any shear ...

motion,

polarization of light Polarization ( also polarisation) is a property applying to transverse waves that specifies the geometrical orientation of the oscillations. In a transverse wave, the direction of the oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of motion of t ...

during a

total eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three cel ...

, and thermal phenomena accompanying changes in volume of

solid Solid is one of the State of matter#Four fundamental states, four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and Plasma (physics), plasma). The molecules in a solid are closely packed together and contain the least amount o ...

s. He studied

, describing a method of simultaneously transmitting messages in opposite directions along the same telegraph wire. He investigated the heat given off by

induction Induction, Inducible or Inductive may refer to: Biology and medicine * Labor induction (birth/pregnancy) * Induction chemotherapy, in medicine * Induced stem cells, stem cells derived from somatic, reproductive, pluripotent or other cell t ...

currents. He studied

electromotive force In electromagnetism and electronics, electromotive force (also electromotance, abbreviated emf, denoted \mathcal or ) is an energy transfer to an electric circuit per unit of electric charge, measured in volts. Devices called electrical ''transd ...

s generated when two different metals are put in contact. He investigated the resistance of

arc lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...

s. He developed a theory of atmospheric electricity to explain the phenomenon of the northern lights. His publications include ''Theorie des phénomènes électriques'' (1874).

Notes

References

* Electrician 1888, 21, 595-596. * La Lumière Électrique 1888, 29, 632-633. * Leopoldina 1888, 24, 169-170. * Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon; Albert Bonniers: 1918-1985; vol. 12, p161-166. * Humboldt Monatsschr. Gesamt. Naturwiss. 1888, 7, 403. * Stockh. Vet. Akad. Lefnadsteckn. 1886-94, 5, 281-305. * Helsingfors. Öfvers. 1889, 31, 247-264. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edlund, Erik 1819 births 1888 deaths Swedish physicists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Andra kammaren Swedish meteorologists