Bjørn Helland-Hansen

{{Short description|Norwegian oceanographer (1877–1957)}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Bjørn Helland-Hansen

|image = Helland-Hansen.jpg

|image_size = 150px

|caption = Bjørn Helland-Hansen

|birth_date = {{birth date|1877|10|16|df=y}}

|birth_place = Christiania (now Oslo)

|death_date = {{death date and age|1957|09|07|1877|10|16|df=y}}

|death_place = Bergen

|citizenship = Norwegian

|nationality = Norwegian

|ethnicity =

|field = oceanography

|work_institutions = Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen

|alma_mater =

|doctoral_advisor =

|doctoral_students =

|known_for = Atlantic Ocean
"Helland-Hansen Photometer

|author_abbrev_bot =

|author_abbrev_zoo =

|influences =

|influenced =

|prizes = Alexander Agassiz Medal (1933)
Vega Medal (1941)

|religion =

|footnotes =

|signature =

|children = Eigil Helland-Hansen

}}

Bjørn Helland-Hansen (16 October 1877 – 7 September 1957) was a Norwegian pioneer in the field of modern oceanography. He studied the variation patterns of the weather in the northern Atlantic Ocean and of the atmosphere. {{cite web|url= https://snl.no/Bj%C3%B8rn_Helland-Hansen

|title= Bjørn Helland-Hansen|publisher=Store norske leksikon |author= Knut Barthel|accessdate= January 1, 2017 }}

He studied both medicine and physics at the University of Christiania (now University of Oslo).

He developed the "Helland-Hansen Photometer" in 1910, which was carried on board Michael Sars. It was operated for the first time close to the Azores at a depth between 500 and m. In 1915 he became Professor of oceanography at the Bergen Museum, and in 1917 director of the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen.{{cite web|url= https://nbl.snl.no/Bj%C3%B8rn_Helland-Hansen|title= Bjørn Helland-Hansen|publisher=Norsk biografisk leksikon |author= Herman G. Gade|accessdate= January 1, 2017 }}

In 1933 he was awarded the Alexander Agassiz Medal. From 1946 to 1948, Helland-Hansen was President of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). He was a member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and a member of the Member of the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic (DDR).

Helland-Hansen trained Alexander Kuchin, the Russian oceanographer who went to Antarctica with Roald Amundsen. An island in the Russian Arctic, east of the Geiberg Islands, has been named Gellanda-Gansena after Helland-Hansen.

file:No-nb bldsa k4c001.jpg