Baltazar Mathias Keilhau

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Portrait of Baltazar M. Keilhau, 1857 (Mineralogisk-geologisk museum, University of Oslo)

Baltazar Mathias Keilhau (born November 2, 1797 in Gjøvik , † January 1, 1858 in Christiania , now Oslo ) was a Norwegian geographer , geologist and mountaineer .

Life

Keilhau was born in Gjøvik ( Biri district ) as the son of pastor Johan David Bertram Keilhau and his wife Johanne Marie Bodom. In 1830 he married Christine Kemp. His wife was previously engaged to his friend, the mathematician Niels Henrik Abel . Before Abel died of tuberculosis in 1829, he recommended his fiancée to Keilhau, who offered her to marry her even though they had never met before, which she accepted.

After extensive research trips, Keilhau founded mineralogical research at the University of Oslo in 1821 . After teaching in 1826, he was appointed to a full professorship in 1834. Here he did pioneering work for the geology of Norway and created the scientific basis for the following research with the publication of the series Gaea Norwegica from 1838 to 1848.

research

Keilhaus Nordlandreise remained in the public and scientific perception of Norway in the year 1827, which took him to the Finnmark region , Bear Island and the Svalbard Archipelago (Spitzbergen). This trip, on which he took part at the invitation of the German Barto von Löwenigh (1799-1853), was reflected in his work "Rejse i Øst- og Vest-Finnmarken including til Beeren-Eiland og Spitsbergen i aarene 1827 og 1828" published in 1831 " (Trip to eastern and western Finnmarken and to Bear Island and Svalbard in the years 1827-1828). Keilhau undertook further research trips that took him to large parts of Norway, including the Jotunheimen Mountains in his home region of Oppland , which he also described.

designation

The wedge dome bay on Edgeøya Island , the third largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago, is named after him. The same applies to the Keilhau Glacier on South Georgia.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://snl.no/Baltazar_Mathias_Keilhau Entry on Baltazar Mathias Keilhau in the "Store norske leksikon"
personal data
SURNAME Keilhau, Baltazar Mathias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian geographer, geologist and mountaineer
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1797
PLACE OF BIRTH Gjøvik
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1858
Place of death Oslo