Hjalmar Broch
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Hjalmar Broch (19 July 1882 – 6 August 1969) was a Norwegian
zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and university professor at 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 ...
(1937–1952). His specialty was biology of lesser marine animals; he published extensively on the biology of fish.


Biography

Hjalmar Broch was born in 1882 at
Horten is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway—located along the Oslofjord. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Horten. The municipality also includes the town of Åsgårdstrand an ...
,
Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...
, Norway. His father was grocer and brewery owner Johan Anthony Zinck Broch (1827–1923); his mother was Fanny Harriet Caroline Gamborg (1838–1926). An older sister,
Lagertha Broch Lagertha Olea Sofie Broch (27 January 18642 May 1952) was a Norwegian illustrator, children's writer and proponent for women's rights. Personal life Broch was born in Horten, a daughter of merchant and brewery owner Johan Anthony Zincke Broch a ...
(1864–1952), became a noted children's author, and an older brother,
Olaf Broch Olaf Broch (4 August 1867, Horten28 January 1961, Oslo) was a Norwegian linguist. He was born in Horten, and was a brother of children's writer Lagertha Broch, zoologist Hjalmar Broch, and social worker Nanna Broch. He was a professor of Slavi ...
(1867–1961), became a noted
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, specializing in Slavic languages. His younger sister Nanna Broch (1879–1971) was a noted social worker. In 1910 Hjalmar Broch married Sofie Beyer (14 June 1882 – 27 July 1960); she was the daughter of merchant Otto Nevermann Michelsen Beyer (1853–1894) and Lina Lund Green (1857–1944). Broch completed his primary education in 1900 and served one year in the nation's military. Beginning in 1901 he studied zoology at 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 ...
under
Kristine Bonnevie Kristine Elisabeth Heuch Bonnevie (8 October 1872 – 30 August 1948) was a Norwegian biologist, Norway's first female professor, women's rights activist and politician for the Free-minded Liberal Party. Her fields of research were cytology, genet ...
. He became the first assistant at the Swedish Hydrographic-Biologiska Kommissionen during the latter part of his study. In 1910 he received a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
degree in zoology, at which time he was named curator of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (museum) in Trondheim. He remained there until 1920, when he was named to a newly established associate professorship at the University of Christiania. In 1937 he became a full professor, a title he held until his retirement in 1952. However, he continued his scientific work at the university (which had been renamed ''University of Oslo'' in 1939) until his death in 1969.


Career

Broch's primary works were on marine biology. His first studies involved
herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
, and he later moved into huldyrene (coelenterates) and barnacles (cirripediene). His thorough and well-written work made him an international expert on these marine animal groups. He made several contributions to the standard work ''Handbuch der Zoologie''. He regularly received and studied marine specimens from the Scandinavian coast, as well as from other sources around the world. In 1957 he was invited by the British Museum of Natural History to relocate to London to curate its amasses specimens. In 1931 he was invited to visit Yugoslavia to assist in the creation of the large Biolosko-Okeanografiski Institut. For his efforts he received the Yugoslav St. Sava Order, and in 1950 he was invited there again as a state guest. By 1920 Broch had been accepted as a member of the Science Academy at Trondheim, and later was included in both the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforsch Leopoldina in Halle, and the Academy of Science in Oslo. He edited the periodical ''Fauna'' from 1953 to 1956, and ''Nytt magasin for zoologi'' from 1953 to 1955. He was also a board member of the Norwegian Ornithological Society of 1920. Broch had many other interests and projects. He worked to improve conditions for marine life in Norway; he was chairman of the Association to promote fisheries in the Oslo Fjord in Drøbak (1932–1957). He was involved in many aspects of nature conservation, and was the first chairman of the National Association for Nature Conservation in Norway (1916–1920). He maintained a personal goal to publish at least one academic paper each year; his publication list includes about 180 works.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broch, Hjalmar 1882 births 1969 deaths People from Horten 20th-century Norwegian zoologists Norwegian marine biologists Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian magazine editors Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters