Of men and instruments: The Norwegian Aurora Expedition to the Arctic, 1902–1903

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Brundtland, Terje
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Norway; Birkeland; Iceland; Northern Norway; Novaya Zemlya; Polar Record; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247418000141; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247418000141

ABSTRACT In 1902, the Norwegian Professor Kristian Birkeland organised an expedition to the Arctic for studies of the aurora borealis, terrestrial magnetism and cirrus clouds. He established four stations at different locations—northern Norway, Iceland, Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya—all equipped with a similar set of scientific instruments. Using an extended concept of a scientific instrument, it is shown here that not only the instruments themselves, but also the external equipment, buildings and camp-facilities, as well as the manual work performed by the expedition members all played a role in obtaining the final results. Further, it is shown that Birkeland's efforts in organising and funding the expedition can be seen as an instrument-making operation.