Bjørn Helland-Hansen (16 October 1877 – 7 September 1957) was a Norwegian pioneer in the field of modern

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

. He studied the variation patterns of the weather in the northern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and of the atmosphere. He studied both medicine and physics at the University of Christiania (now University of Oslo). He developed the "Helland-Hansen

Photometer A photometer is an instrument that measures the strength of electromagnetic radiation in the range from ultraviolet to infrared and including the visible spectrum. Most photometers convert light into an electric current using a photoresistor, ...

" in 1910, which was carried on board '' Michael Sars''. It was operated for the first time close to the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

at a depth between 500 and 700 m. In 1915 he became Professor of oceanography at the Bergen Museum, and in 1917 director of the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen. In 1933 he was awarded the Alexander Agassiz Medal. From 1946 to 1948, Helland-Hansen was President of the

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG; , UGGI) is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the scientific study of Earth and its space environment using geophysical and geodetic techniques. The IUGG is a me ...

(IUGG). He was a member of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences () was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...

and a member of the Member of the Academy of Sciences of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(DDR). Helland-Hansen trained Alexander Kuchin, the Russian oceanographer who went to Antarctica with

Roald Amundsen Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (, ; ; 16 July 1872 – ) was a Norwegians, Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He was a key figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Born in Borge, Østfold, Norway, Am ...

. An island in the Russian Arctic, east of the Geiberg Islands, has been named Gellanda-Gansena after Helland-Hansen. left, Bjørn Helland-Hansen (ca 1917)

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* 1877 births 1957 deaths Scientists from Bergen University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Bergen Norwegian oceanographers Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Presidents of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics {{Norway-scientist-stub