Kaj Birket-Smith

Kaj Birket -Smith ( * January 20, 1893, † 28 October 1977) was a Danish geographer and ethnologist.

Life

Birket -Smith was a specialist of the Inuit and Eyak cultures. In 1921, he took with Knud Rasmussen Thule Expedition part. In 1940 he became director of the Ethnographic Department of the Danish National Museum, where he worked since 1929.

Birket -Smith won the Hans Egede - Medal of the Geographical Society of Denmark, the Huxley Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Loubat Prize. He was a member of numerous academies and scientific societies, including the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, the Norwegian Academy of Science, Kungliga och Vitterhets History Antikvitets academies, the Finnish Academy of Sciences and the Kungliga Vetenskaps -och Vitterhetssamhället i Göteborg. The University of Basel, the University of Uppsala and the University of Pennsylvania, distinguished him with an honorary doctorate.