Asta Nørregaard · Public domain
19th–20th century · 1867–1917
Kristian Birkeland
Kristian Birkeland · Norway
Norwegian space physicist and pioneer in explaining the aurora
A physics professor at the Royal Frederick University in Oslo, he explained the northern lights with his theory of electric currents in the atmosphere. To fund his research he invented an electromagnetic cannon and the Birkeland–Eyde process for fixing nitrogen from the air. In 1899–1900 he organised a Norwegian polar expedition that set up a network of observatories beneath the auroral zone and, for the first time, used ground magnetic measurements to work out the global pattern of polar currents.
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History · Tromsø and the Arctic Cathedral
Solving the mystery of the aurora with a magnetised sphere
The Norwegian physicist Kristian Birkeland built a series of observatories at high latitudes in northern Norway to collect magnetic data beneath the auroral zone; his 1899–1900 Norwegian polar expedition was the first to derive the global distribution of polar electric currents from ground-based magnetic measurements. In his laboratory he also simulated the Earth with a small magnetised sphere and fired electron beams at it; the electrons were guided towards the 'poles', forming glowing rings around them — from which he deduced that the aurora is produced in the same way. To fund his research he even invented an electromagnetic cannon.
