Veikko Aleksanteri Heiskanen (23 July 1895, in Kangaslampi – 23 October 1971, in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

) was a famous Finnish

geodesist Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equival ...

. He is mostly known for his refinement of the theory of

isostasy Isostasy (Greek ''ísos'' "equal", ''stásis'' "standstill") or isostatic equilibrium is the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust (or lithosphere) and mantle such that the crust "floats" at an elevation that depends on i ...

by George Airy and for his studies of the global

geoid The geoid () is the shape that the ocean surface would take under the influence of the gravity of Earth, including gravitational attraction and Earth's rotation, if other influences such as winds and tides were absent. This surface is extende ...

. *1931–1949 Professor of Geodesy,

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; fi, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; sv, Tekniska högskolan) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the metropolitan area of Greater Helsinki. The university was founded in ...

*1933–1936 Member of Finnish Parliament *1949–1961 Director,

Finnish Geodetic Institute The Finnish Geospatial Research Institute ( fi, Paikkatietokeskus), formerly Finnish Geodetic Institute (FGI, fi, Geodeettinen laitos, sv, Geodetiska institutet) is a research institute in Finland specializing in geodesy and geospatial informati ...

*1951–1961 Research professor,

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publi ...

External links

Veikko Heiskanen and Helmut Moritz
(presentation) 1890s births 1971 deaths Finnish geodesists Ohio State University faculty Finnish expatriates in the United States {{Geoscience-bio-stub