Eberhart Jensen (22 July 1922 – 16 January 2003) was a Norwegian astrophysicist. He was born in

Røyken Røyken is a district and village (''bygd'') and a former municipality in Buskerud in Viken County, Norway. In 2020 Røyken was merged with the municipalities of Hurum and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality (informally called "Greater Ask ...

as a son of farmer Edvard Jensen (1850–1930) and Berthe Marie Kristiansen (1883–1961). He finished his secondary education in 1942 and graduated from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top univers ...

with the cand.real. degree in 1949. During the

occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

, after the

1943 University of Oslo fire The 1943 University of Oslo fire ( no, aula-brannen) was a fire in the ceremony hall (''Universitetets Aula'') of the University of Oslo in 1943. Its direct consequences were the closing of the university, and the arrest of 1,166 people; these were ...

, he was arrested together with a thousand students and sent to

Stavern Stavern is a small water-side town in Larvik municipality in Vestfold County, Norway. It is south of the city of Larvik. Currently there are around 3,000 inhabitants in Stavern. It is a small town where tourism is one of the most important sour ...

. In December he was shipped on to Sennheim, later

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...

. He survived until the camp was liberated. In 1948 he married Liv Linnestad. He took his Ph.D. at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

in 1953, and was hired as lecturer at the

in 1959 and

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

in 1961. His fields were mainly

solar physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It deals with detailed measurements that are possible only for our closest star. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics, astrophysics, and com ...

and

plasma physics Plasma ()πλάσμα
, Henry George Liddell, R ...

. From 1965 to 1992 he served as professor, and he also edited the official Norwegian

almanac An almanac (also spelled ''almanack'' and ''almanach'') is an annual publication listing a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, tide tables, and othe ...

from 1966 to 1993. He was admitted into the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...

in 1965. He resided in

Østerås Østerås is a village in Akershus, Norway. Østerås (station) Østerås is a village in Akershus, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises t ...

. He died in January 2003, aged 80.

References

1922 births 2003 deaths People from Røyken Sennheim concentration camp survivors Buchenwald concentration camp survivors University of Oslo alumni University of Chicago alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian astrophysicists Norwegian almanac editors Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Norwegian expatriates in the United States {{Norway-academic-bio-stub