Vilhelm Bjerknes (1862–1951), Norwegian physicist and meteorologist, son of Carl Anton
In 1917, he founded the Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen where he wrote his book On the Dynamics of the Circular Vortex with Applications to the Atmosphere and to Atmospheric Vortex and Wave Motion (1921), and laid the foundation for the Bergen School of Meteorology.
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Born in Christiania, Bjerknes enjoyed an early exposure to fluid dynamics, as assistant to his father, Carl Anton Bjerknes, who had discovered by mathematical analysis the apparent actions at a distance between pulsating and oscillating bodies in a fluid, and their analogy with the electric and magnetic actions at a distance.
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Vilhelm Bjerknes became assistant to Heinrich Hertz in Bonn 1890–1891 and made substantial contributions to Hertz' work on electromagnetic resonance.
Vilhelm Bjerknes | Vilhelm Ekelund | Kristian Vilhelm Koren Schjelderup, Jr. | Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint | Carl Anton Bjerknes | Vilhelm Thomsen | Vilhelm Pedersen | Vilhelm Moberg | Vilhelm Melbye | Vilhelm Krag | Vilhelm Helander | Vilhelm Hammershøi | Vilhelm Aubert | Vilhelm Andreas Wexelsen | Karl Vilhelm Zetterstéen | Johannes Vilhelm Jensen | Jacob Bjerknes |
Rossby came into meteorology and oceanography while studying under Vilhelm Bjerknes in Bergen in 1919, where Bjerknes' group was developing the concept of polar front, and University of Leipzig.
He worked at the University of Chicago in the Chicago school of meteorology (started by Carl-Gustaf Rossby) on cyclones and weather fronts with Vilhelm Bjerknes.
In 1925, he was appointed research assistant to Professor Vilhelm Bjerknes, who had moved from Bergen where as founding director of the Geophysical Institute he had led development of the Bergen School of Meteorology.
Born in Stockholm to Fredrik Laurentz Ekman, himself an oceanographer, he became committed to oceanography while studying physics at the University of Uppsala and, in particular, on hearing Vilhelm Bjerknes lecture on fluid dynamics.