Vilhelm Frimann Koren Bjerknes

Vilhelm Frimann Koren Bjerknes , 1862-1951, Norwegian physicist and pioneer in modern meteorology . He worked on applying hydrodynamic and thermodynamic theories to atmospheric and hydrospheric conditions in order to predict future weather conditions. Bjerknes was professor at the universities of Oslo (1907-12, 1926-32); Leipzig (1912-17); and Bergen (1917-26), where he set up a geophysical institute. His work in meteorology and on electric waves was important in the early development of wireless telegraphy. His publications include Fields of Force (1906) and the classic book On the Dynamics of the Circular Vortex with Applications to the Atmosphere and to Atmospheric Vortex and Wave Motion (1921); he is also coauthor with J. W. Sandström (on Vol. I) and with T. Hesselberg and O. Devik (on Vol. II) of Dynamic Meteorology and Hydrography (Vol. I and II, 1910-11; Vol. III, 1951). He evolved a theory of cyclones known as the polar front theory with his son Jakob Aall Bonnevie Bjerknes, 1897-1975, who became a U.S. citizen in 1946. Jakob Bjerknes served as professor of meteorology at the Univ. of Bergen (1931-40) and at the Univ. of California (from 1940).

Bjerknes, Vilhelm Frimann Koren (1862–1951) A Norwegian meteorologist who was born and died in Oslo. As a student, he helped his father, who was professor of mathematics at the Christiania University (now the University of Oslo). He himself held professorships at Stockholm and Leipzig before returning to Norway in 1917 to found the Bergen Geophysical Institute (see BERGEN SCHOOL). During the First World War, Bjerknes established a series of weather stations throughout Norway. Information from these allowed Bjerknes and his colleagues, who included his son Jakob and Tor Harold Percival Bergeron (1891–1977), to develop their theory of air masses bounded by fronts.