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| Titel |
Sophus Peter Tromholt: an outstanding pioneer in auroral research |
| VerfasserIn |
K. Moss, P. Stauning |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
2190-5010
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: History of Geo- and Space Sciences ; 3, no. 1 ; Nr. 3, no. 1 (2012-03-07), S.53-72 |
| Datensatznummer |
250000856
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/hgss-3-53-2012.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Danish school teacher Sophus Peter Tromholt
(1851–1896) was self-taught in physics, astronomy, and auroral sciences.
Still, he was one of the brightest auroral researchers of the 19th
century. He was the first scientist ever to organize and analyse correlated
auroral observations over a wide area (entire Scandinavia) moving away from
incomplete localized observations. Tromholt documented the relation between
auroras and sunspots and demonstrated the daily, seasonal and solar
cycle-related variations in high-latitude auroral occurrence frequencies.
Thus, Tromholt was the first ever to deduce from auroral observations the
variations associated with what is now known as the auroral oval termed so
by Khorosheva (1962) and Feldstein (1963) more than 80 yr later. He made
reliable and accurate estimates of the heights of auroras several decades
before this important issue was finally settled through Størmer's
brilliant photographic technique. In addition to his three major scientific
works (Tromholt, 1880a, 1882a, and 1885a), he wrote numerous short science
notes and made huge efforts to collect historical auroral observations
(Tromholt, 1898). Furthermore, Tromholt wrote a large number of popular
science articles in newspapers and journals and made lecture tours all over
Scandinavia and Germany, contributing to enhance the public educational
level and awareness. He devoted most of his life to auroral research but as
a self-taught scientist, he received little acclaim within the contemporary
academic scientific society. With his non-academic background, trained at a
college of education – not a university – he was never offered a position
at a university or a research institution. However, Sophus Tromholt was an
outstanding pioneer in auroral research. |
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