Johan Hjort

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Johan Hjort

Johan Hjort (born February 18, 1869 in Oslo , † October 7, 1948 ibid) was a Norwegian zoologist (marine biology), who held an internationally leading position in oceanography and fisheries research at his time.

Life

Hjort was the son of a professor of ophthalmology SA Hjort and took an early interest in zoology. For his father's sake, first studied medicine and then zoology in Munich with Richard Hertwig . In 1892 he received his doctorate there with a dissertation on the embryology of sea ​​squirts , which he prepared at the marine research station in Naples . He then returned to Norway and became a curator at the Zoological Museum at the University of Oslo . In 1894 he succeeded Georg Ossian Sars as chief fisheries researcher in Norway. In order to continue his education in physiological chemistry , he went again to study in Jena in 1895/96. In 1897 he became director of the marine research station at Oslo University in Drøbak . In fisheries research and oceanography, he exchanged ideas with Otto Pettersson (1848–1941) in Sweden and Johannes Petersen (Carl Georg Johannes Petersen, 1860–1928) in Denmark. From 1900 to 1916 he was the founder and director of the Norwegian Institute for Marine Research in Bergen . During the First World War he resigned from his posts in Norway to protest against the secrecy of fish sales to England and went to Denmark and the University of Cambridge. In 1921 he became professor of marine biology in Oslo, which he remained until 1939.

In 1910 he went on an expedition to explore the North Atlantic with John Murray on the Norwegian research ship Michael Sars , which led to their classic book The Depths of the Ocean . In fisheries science he pioneered the introduction of statistical methods and procedures for measuring the age of fish with a monograph from 1914. He warned against overfishing (including whaling with attachments in the 1930s) and developed methods for optimal sustainable fishing without endangering the fish populations.

Hjort also developed technical methods in fishing, such as a method to extract whale oil from their bacon, and in crab fishing. From 1898 he developed methods to fish with trawls in the deep Norwegian fjords and found large populations of deep-sea crabs ( Pandalus borealis ), which were then fished in Norway for export. In 1936, on the occasion of a trip to Harvard to receive an honorary doctorate, he also predicted large populations of deep-sea crabs off New England and immediately demonstrated this on a research ship.

In 1913 he received the first Alexander Agassiz Medal . He was a foreign member of the Royal Society (1916) and since 1921 an honorary member ( Honorary Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1939 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society and in 1946 a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . In 1902 he was one of the founders of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES, Conseil International pour l'exploration de la mer), where he was Norwegian delegate until 1938 and vice-president from 1920 to 1938 and president from 1938 to 1948. He received the Norwegian Order of Saint Olav and the Danish Order of Dannebrog and was honorary doctorates from Harvard , Cambridge and London.

He was married to Wanda Maria von der Marwitz (1868–1952), whom he had met in Munich, and had four children with her. His son Johan Bernhard Hjort (1895–1969) was a judge at the Norwegian Supreme Court.

A Norwegian research ship belonging to the Marine Research Institute (Havforskningsinstituttet) in Bergen is named after him. The same applies to Hjort Massif in Palmer land on the Antarctic Peninsula , which Hjort Fracture Zone in the Southern Ocean, the ridge Hjortryggen on Beerenberg on Jan Mayen and Mount Johan Hjortfjellet on Hopen in the archipelago of Spitsbergen .

Fonts

  • The first north land voyage of the Norwegian fishing steamer Michael Sars in 1900 under the direction of Johan Hjort, Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen, Volume 4, 1901, pp. 73–83, 97–106
  • with John Murray: The depths of the ocean, 1912
  • Fluctuations in the Great Fisheries of Northern Europe, Rapports et procès-verbaux des réunions 20, International Council for the Exploration of the Seas, 1914, pp. 1-228.
  • The Unity of Science 1921
  • Fluctuations in the Year Classes of Important Food Fishes, Journal du Conseil International pour l'exploration de la mer 1926
  • The Emperor's New Clothes. Reflections by a Biologist, Transmare 1932
  • The human value of biology, Harvard UP 1938

literature

  • AC Hardy, Johan Hjort 1869-1948, Obituary Notices Fellows Royal Society, Volume 7, 1950, 167-181
  • W. Kielhau, article Johan Hjort in Norsk Biografisk Leksikon, 1934
  • D. Merriman, article Johan Hjort in Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  • HG Maurice, ES Russell, Obituaries in Nature, Vol 162, 1948, 764-766
  • G. Rollefsen: Norwegian fisheries research, Fiskeridirekoratets skrifter, Havundersøkelser series 14, 1966, pp. 1-36.
  • J. Ruud: Johan Hjort, in memoriam, Norwegian Whaling Gazette (Norsk Hvalfangst Tidende) 37, No. 11, 1948, pp. 441–451.
  • P. Solemdal, M. Sinclair: Johan Hjort, founder of modern Norwegian fishery research and pionieer in recruitment thinking, ICES Reports, Volume 191, 1989, pp. 339-344.
  • P. Solemdal: The three cavaliers: a discussion from the Golden Age of Norwegian marine research, in: RC Chambers, EL Trippel (Ed.), Early life history and recruitment in fish populations, London: Chapman and Hall 1997, p. 556 -557.
  • Vera Schwach: A sea change: Johan Hjort and the natural fluctuations in the fish stocks, ICES Journal of Marine Science, Volume 71, 2014, pp. 1993–1999.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Member History: Johan Hjort. American Philosophical Society, accessed October 1, 2018 .
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter H. Académie des sciences, accessed on November 27, 2019 (French).
  4. ^ Johan Hjort
personal data
SURNAME Hjort, Johan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian zoologist (marine biology)
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Oslo
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1948
Place of death Oslo