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