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Professor
Olaf Holtedahl
ForMemRS FRSE
Professor Olaf Holtedahl ForMemRS FRSE
	Olaf Holtedahl
Born	24 June 1885
Died	26 August 1975 (aged 90)
Awards	Fellow of the Royal Society
	Scientific career
Institutions	University of Oslo

Olaf Holtedahl (24 June 1885 – 26 August 1975) was a Norwegian geologist (Dr.philos., 1913). He became a senior lecturer at the University of Oslo in 1914, and was Professor of Geology there from 1920 to 1956.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Career

Olaf Holtedahl was born in Kristiania (modern-day Oslo), Norway, the son of Arne H. Holtedahl, superintendent of pauper administration, and his wife, Mathilde Madsen.^[10]

Around 1903 he did his obligatory military service at Gardermoen, just north of Oslo, and here met Captain Gunnar Isachsen who greatly influenced him, and first inspired his interest in polar regions. In 1909, Isachsen invited Holtedahl to join him in explorations of Spitsbergen as official geologist of the group.^[11]

He studied geology at the University of Oslo, graduating in 1909 and receiving a doctorate in 1913. Staying in the university as staff he received his professorship in 1920.

Holtedahl was among the last of a generation of geologists that mastered the subject in all its breadth. He delivered a significant contribution, not only in Norway but also for large areas of the Arctic and Antarctic. His first geological work dealt with the Oslo Rift in the Cambrosilurian period, and he was part of the 1909–11 expeditions to Svalbard. Between 1914 and 1917, he explored the geology of Lapland, and in 1918, he worked at Bear Island. In 1921 he led a Norwegian expedition to Novaya Zemlya. He joined the 1927–28 Antarctic expeditions of Lars Christensen, and he edited the scientific results from these expeditions .^[2] He was the doctoral advisor of Bjørn G. Andersen, whose subsequent works on Quaternary geology he greatly influenced.^[12]

In the Second World War he was a member of the Norwegian resistance movement.

Holtedahl died in Oslo on 26 August 1975.

Family

He married Tora Gurstad in 1912.^[13] Their children include Professor of geology Hans Holtedahl^[2] (1917–2001).

Honors and awards

Wollaston Medal (1951)
Elected member of the Royal Society in 1961^[1]^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b Størmer, L.; Stormer, L. (1976). "Olaf Holtedahl 24 June 1885 -- 26 August 1975". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 22: 193–205. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1976.0008. S2CID 71487514.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bryhni, Inge. "Olaf Holtedahl Extended Biography". Norsk Biografisk Leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
^ Holtedahl, Olaf (1907): Alunskiferfeltet ved Øieren, Norges Geologiske Undersøkelser nr. 45 (Aarbog for 1907)
^ Holtedahl, Olaf (1916): Zur Kenntnis der Karbonablagerungen des westlischen Spitsbergens, VSK Skr. I (del 1: 1911 nr. 10, 1911, del 2: 1912 nr. 23, 1913)
^ Holtedahl, Olaf (1916): The Strophomenidae of the Kristiania region, VKS Skr. I 1915 nr. 12
^ Holtedahl, Olaf (1918): Bidrag til Finmarkens geologi, Norges Geologiske Undersøkelser nr. 84
^ Holtedahl, Olaf (1929): On the geology and physiography of some Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands. Sci. Res. Norwegian Antarctic Exped. 1927–1928 and 1928–1929. 3. Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo, 1–172
^ Olaf Holtedahl Biography on Store Norske Leksikon
^ l. h. (2009). "Norges Geologi. By Olaf Holtedahl. 2 vols., 1118 pp., with 485 text-figures, 24 plates, including two maps in colour—a geological map and a glacial map, scale 1/1 million. Norges Geologiske Undersøkelse, Nr. 164, Oslo, 1953. Price 70 kroner". Geological Magazine. 92: 87–88. doi:10.1017/S0016756800063366.
^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
^ "Olaf Holtedahl, 24 June 1885 - 26 August 1975" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 22: 193–205. 1976. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1976.0008. S2CID 71487514.
^ Mangerud, Jan (2011). "Geoprofilen: Bjørn G. Andersen – En bauta i norsk geologi". Geoforskning (in Norwegian). 6/2011 (6). Retrieved 14 November 2012.
^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.