Contributions to the knowledge of the fresh-water Entomostraca of New Zealand - no-nb digibok 2009041503004-65

Prof Georg Ossian Sars H

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(20 April 1837 – 9 April 1927) was a Norwegian marine and freshwater biologist.

Life

Georg Ossian Sars was born on 20 April 1837 in Kinn, Norway (now part of

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

), the son of Pastor

Michael Sars Michael Sars (30 August 1805 – 22 October 1869) was a Norwegian theologian and biologist. Biography Sars was born in Bergen, Norway. He studied natural history and theology at Royal Frederick University from 1823 and completed a cand.theol ...

and

Maren Sars Maren Cathrine Sars (née Welhaven; 17 August 1811 – 27 December 1898) was a Norwegian socialite. Personal life She was born in Bergen as a daughter of priest Johan Ernst Welhaven (1775–1828) and Else Margrethe Cammermeyer (1785–1853), the ...

; the historian

Ernst Sars Johan Ernst Welhaven Sars (11 October 1835 – 27 January 1917) was a Norwegian professor, historian, author and editor. Assuming perspectives from the positivism philosophical school, his main work was ''Udsigt over den norske Historie'', f ...

was his elder brother, and the singer and women's

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

pioneer

Eva Nansen Eva Helene Nansen (née Sars; 17 December 1858 – 9 December 1907) was a celebrated Norwegian mezzo-soprano singer. She was also a pioneer of women's skiing. Personal life Born in Christiania (now Oslo), she was a daughter of priest and profe ...

was his younger sister.
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He grew up in

Manger __NOTOC__ A manger or trough is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The word comes from the Old French ''mangier'' (meaning "to eat"), from Latin ''mandere'' (meaning "to chew"). Mangers are mostly used in ...

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

, where his father was the local priest. He studied from 1852 to 1854 at

Bergen Cathedral School Bergen Cathedral School ( Norwegian: ''Bergen Katedralskole'', Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Bergensis'', formerly known as Bergens lærdeskole and Bergen latinskole and colloquially known as Katten) is an upper secondary school in Bergen, Norway. L ...

, from 1854 at Christiania Cathedral School, and joined the university at Christiana (now the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

) in 1857. He indulged his interest in

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

while studying medicine; having collected

water flea The Diplostraca or Cladocera, commonly known as water fleas, is a superorder of small, mostly freshwater crustaceans, most of which feed on microscopic chunks of organic matter, though some forms are predatory. Over 1000 species have been recog ...

s in local lakes with

Wilhelm Lilljeborg Wilhelm Lilljeborg (6 October 1816 – 24 July 1908) was a Swedish zoologist. He is particularly known for his work on the Cladocera of Sweden, and on the Balaenoptera. Lilljeborg was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Roya ...

's works, he discovered new species, and this resulted in his first scientific publication. Georg Ossian Sars had a good memory and excellent drawing skills, and illustrated some of his father's zoological works. Sars was a founding investigator of

ichthyoplankton Ichthyoplankton (from Greek: ἰχθύς, , "fish"; and πλαγκτός, , "drifter") are the eggs and larvae of fish. They are mostly found in the sunlit zone of the water column, less than 200 metres deep, which is sometimes called the ep ...

. In 1864, he was commissioned by the Norwegian government to investigate

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

around the Norwegian coast. One of his first discoveries was that the

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

are

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

, that is, they inhabit the open

water column The (oceanic) water column is a concept used in oceanography to describe the physical (temperature, salinity, light penetration) and chemical ( pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient salts) characteristics of seawater at different depths for a defined ...

. He continued to receive the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the government throughout his career. Sars' primary research focus was on

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s and their

systematics Systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees (synonyms: phylogenetic trees, phylogenies). Phy ...

. He described many new species in his career, including in his ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

'', ''An Account of the Crustacea of Norway''. For his achievements, Sars was made a Knight of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

in 1892, and elevated to Knight-Commander in 1911. He was further awarded the

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

in 1910. Georg Ossian Sars never married, and died on 9 April 1927 in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. He is remembered in the scientific names of a number of marine

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, as well as the journal '' Sarsia'', the

Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology The 'Michael Sars Centre'' is a research institute at the University of Bergen located in Bergen, Norway. It consists of an international community of scientists that use advanced technologies to study the unique molecular and cellular biology of ma ...

and the flagship of the Norwegian research fleet, the ''RV G.O.Sars''.

Publications

* ''An Account of the Crustacea of Norway''. * Sars G. O. (1878)
''Bidrag til kundskaben om norges arktiske fauna. I. Mollusca regonis arcticae Norwegiae. Oversigt over de i norges arktiske region forekommende bløddyr''
Christiania, Brøgger. niversity of Oslo

References

External links

The RV G.O. Sars

Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology

G.O. Sars Open Library

BHL
Online works by G. O. Sars {{DEFAULTSORT:Sars, Georg Ossian 1837 births 1927 deaths 19th-century Norwegian zoologists 20th-century Norwegian zoologists Fisheries scientists Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Marine zoologists Norwegian carcinologists Norwegian marine biologists People educated at Oslo Cathedral School People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala