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The Birkeland Lecture

The University of Oslo has since 1987 arranged a ”Birkeland Lecture” in cooperation with the Norwegain Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Space Centre and the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro ASA (from 2004: YARA ASA). Except for 1993 – when the lecture was given in Tokyo - the lectures have been given in Norway, most of them at the Academy in Oslo. Some years seminars have been arranged in connection with the lectures, e.g in 1993 when the lecture was part of a ”Joint Japanese-Norwegian Workshop on Arctic Research”, and in 1995 when the lecture was part of a seminar on Norwegian environmental research. Also in 2001, when professor D. Southwood from ESA gave the Birkeland Lecture, a workshop on Norwegian space research with emphasis on the Cluster programme was arranged at the University of Oslo. This cooperation with the Academy and Norsk Hydro and YARA has given the University of Oslo the opportunity to invite many outstanding scientists within the area of geophysical and space research to Oslo, areas which were central in Kristian Birkeland´s own research.

 

To improve the experimental basis for his theory of the geomagnetic effects in the polar region, Birkeland carried out a large scale expedition in the Arctic . The expedition took place in the years 1902-03, and the map shows the position of the experimental stations which he had equipped with modern instruments. These stations were of central impor-tance for this enterprise, and he called them “The Norwegian Stations”. (Map from Birkeland´s main research contribution “The Norwegian Auroral Polaris Expeditions”, 1908).To improve the experimental basis for his theory of the geomagnetic effects in the polar region, Birkeland carried out a large scale expedition in the Arctic . The expedition took place in the years 1902-03, and the map shows the position of the experimental stations which he had equipped with modern instruments. These stations were of central impor-tance for this enterprise, and he called them “The Norwegian Stations”. (Map from Birkeland´s main research contribution “The Norwegian Auroral Polaris Expeditions”, 1908).

The Birkeland Lecture 2007:

“Unrest on the Sun – storms on the Earth The magnetic connection”

Eigil Friis-Christensen, Danish National Space Center, DTU

The magnetic field of the Earth and its dependence on solar activity was central in the research of Kristian Birkeland. One of his big quests was to understand “the message from the Sun”. Another prominent Norwegian Physicist, Christopher Hansteen, was listening to another message: “the Earth is talking about the motions in its interior in the low voice of the magnetic needle”.

Now, 125 years after the first International Polar Year 1882-83, we have just entered a new International Polar Year, IPY, dedicated to a wide spectrum of coordinated international research projects including some of the very same scientific challenges that occupied Kristian Birkeland and colleagues. Protection of our planet will be in the focus of much research but we have also realized that our planet is not isolated in Space. It is exposed to forces originating from the Sun, which we are just beginning to understand. With the current and the planned high precision measurements of the magnetic field of the Earth and with a solar mission giving us a stereoscopic view of the solar atmosphere, we are entering a new era of geomagnetic and solar magnetic field research.

An important aspect of the Sun-Earth connection is the possible link between solar variations and cloud formation through solar modulation of the cosmic ray flow. If such an effect can be understood and quantified it has significant implications for the possibility of predicting and mitigating societal effects of climate changes, natural or manmade.

Organizing committee

Jan A. Holtet

Professor Jan A. Holtet, Department of Physics, University of Oslo (chairman)
Professor Alv Egeland, Department of Physics, University of Oslo
Professor Reidun Sirevåg, Secretary General, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Rune Ingels, Vice President, Yara International ASA
Bo Andersen, Director General, Norwegian Space Centre

About the Birkeland Lecture

The Birkeland Lecture is open for everybody. There is no registration. Free admission.

For more information about the Birkeland Lecture:
Anne-Marie Astad
Information Officer
The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Phone: + 47 22 12 10 92
E-mail: anne.marie.astad@dnva.no

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