Väinö Auer (; January 7, 1895,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

– March 20, 1981, Helsinki), the son of senator , was a Finnish

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, althoug ...

and

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, chiefly remembered as an explorer of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

and

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

. He is also noted for his pioneering studies on

tephrochronology 250px, Tephra horizons in south-central Iceland. The thick and light coloured layer at the height of the volcanologist's hands is rhyolitic tephra from Hekla. Tephrochronology is a Geochronology, geochronological technique that uses discrete l ...

, desertification, and the development of bogs. Auer studied at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

, graduating B.Sc. (1917), M.Sc. (1918), and Ph.D. (1923). His studies were interrupted by the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

, where he saw action in 1918. Auer became a professor of geography at the University of Helsinki in 1929. While holding his professorship Auer launched expeditions to Tierra del Fuego in 1928–1929, and to Patagonia in 1937–1938. Following the end of

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 ...

he relocated to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1946, entering the service of the Argentine government as an advisor to the Juan Perón regime and the

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, among other functions. During his years in Argentina, Auer continued his earlier studies on the natural history of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, while advising the Argentine government in matters related to land use and colonization of the country's southern frontier. Auer returned to Finland in 1953. In the last years of his professional career, he served as a professor of geography (1953–1957), and of geology and palaeontology (1957–1963) at the University of Helsinki. A documentary film about the life and work of Auer in Finland and Latin America was published on 2007 and broadcast on Magellan Chile. Auer was geographer, explorer and above all swamp geologist. His swamp auger reached the central, post ice age layers of earth's climate history in Canada, Finland, Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. The film travels in time to the different stages of Auer's life: in the swamps and wilderness of Finland, the peculiar shallow swamps of Tierra del Fuego and the Patagonian pampas that are whipped by dusty winds. The documentary film is based on Auer's diary entries and articles. Through them, it also takes a tour of dramatic human history in the 20th century. In that perspective he confesses his involvement in the construction of a German submarine base in Tierra del Fuego in 1943, which, if true, makes a remarkable rewriting of knowledge of the Second World War.

Notable publications

For a complete list cf. Alhonen & Alhonen (2006). * Auer, V. (1960) The Quaternary History of Fuego-Patagonia. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society B'', 152. * Auer, V. (1956–1970) The Pleistocene of Fuego-Patagonia. Parts I–V. ''Annales Academiae Scientarum Fennicae A III'', 45, 50, 60, 80, 100, 1300 pp.

References

* Alhonen, P. & Alhonen, A. (2006). ''Vaakavarren ratsastaja: Tutkimusmatkailija Väinö Auerin elämä'' (a biography in Finnish). Edico, Helsinki.

External links

Väinö Auer
at the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. {{DEFAULTSORT:Auer, Vaino 1895 births 1981 deaths People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Explorers of South America Finnish geologists Finnish geographers Palynologists University of Helsinki alumni Academic staff of the University of Helsinki Finnish expatriates in Argentina Finnish explorers 20th-century geographers 20th-century geologists