Harald Sverdrup (oceanographer)

Harald Ulrik Sverdrup (* November 15, 1888 in Sogndal, Norway, † August 21, 1957 ) was a Norwegian oceanographer.

After studying in Oslo, he took on a job at the Geophysical Institute in Leipzig. He led from 1918 to 1925 under Roald Amundsen on the Maud expedition scientific work on the investigation of the Northeast Passage in the footsteps of Fram. After this expedition, he was appointed professor of geophysics at the University of Bergen. In 1931, Sverdrup as a senior scientist at Hubert Wilkins ' unsuccessful North Pole trip on the submarine Nautilus in part. In 1936 he was appointed director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which he directed until 1948.

He developed a detailed oceanographic data off the coast of California on a total of 33 expeditions with the research vessel EW Scripps in the years 1938 to 1941. During World War II, he participated in through his oceanographic work in ensuring maritime fighting the Allies. In 1948 he was appointed head of the new Norsk Polarinstitutt in Oslo and in 1949 took over the patronage of the Norwegian- Swedish-British Antarctic Expedition. With the research vessel Norsel he traveled in 1951 even in the Antarctic.

According to him, the unit Sverdrup (Sv ) and the Sverdrupfjella in Dronning Maud Land ( Antarctica ) and the Sverdrup nunataks was named on the southeast coast of Palmer country.