Hans Strøm
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Hans Strøm (25 January 1726 – 1 February 1797) was a Norwegian clergyman. He also became a prominent
zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
and
naturalist 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 ...
. He is best associated with his topographical description of the traditional district of
Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities () of Fjord, Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Sande, Haram, Stranda Mu ...
.


Life

Hans Strøm was born in the
prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...
(parish) of Borgund in
Romsdalen Romsdalen is a valley in the western part of Norway. The long valley runs from the Romsdalsfjorden through Rauma Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county and into Lesja Municipality in Innlandet county. It is the valley of the Rauma (river), Rau ...
county, Norway. His father was a clergyman and many other relatives of both his father and mother were ministers. He attended the
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 ...
. He was educated as a Lutheran clergyman and in 1745 took a theological degree at the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...
. Then he worked from 1750 to 1764 as chaplain in
Borgund Church Borgund Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Borgund, just east of the city of Ålesund. It is the church for the Borgund parish whic ...
. In 1764 he became parish priest, first at
Volda Church Volda Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Volda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Volda, along the northeastern shore of the Voldsfjorden. It is the church for the Volda parish a ...
where he served until 1779, when he went to
Eiker Eiker is a traditional district in the county of Buskerud, Norway. History Eiker consists of the municipalities of Nedre Eiker and Øvre Eiker. The area is located in the southern part of Buskerud county. Eiker is an agricultural area with a ...
where he served as Vicar for 18 years. He died at
Hokksund Hokksund is a town in the counties of Norway, county of Buskerud in Eastern Norway. It is the largest population center and administrative center of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Øvre Eiker. The town is located upstream of the ...
(in what is now Øvre Eiker Municipality in
Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...
county).


Topography

Strøm is particularly known as a
topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...
, and especially for the model physical and economic description he gave of Søndmør's bailiff's office (1762–69), also called Søndmør's Description. In this work he describes how the wave formation and lines of Sunnmøre's mountains were explained by the locals as a result of the Syndfloden's water masses. He himself considers it more probable that they are due to rain, but states that the farmers are absolutely right that the ridges are consistently parallel from northeast to southwest, and thus resemble the waves that the northwest wind creates at sea. He published a similar work on Eiker: ''Physisk-Oeconomisk Beskrivning over Eger-præstegield'' in 1784. In Sunnmøre's description, he gave an early account of the construction technique of the Sunnmøre stave churches. In Strøm's time, there were still about a hundred stave churches in Norway, but many had disappeared before the mapping and conservation work began in the 19th century.


Zoological work

Hans Strøm was the first Norwegian who gave species descriptions for Norwegian animals. The results of his research was published as ''Physisk og Oeconomisk Beskrivelse over Fogderiet Søndmør I–II'' (Copenhagen, 1762–1766), a work that established his reputation as a scientific authority. He followed up this work with a number of articles, particularly where the natural sciences were strongly represented. He co-founded the
Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (, DKNVS) is a Norway, Norwegian learned society based in Trondheim. It was founded in 1760 and is Norway's oldest scientific and scholarly institution. The society's Protector is King Harald V of ...
in 1760, with
Gerhard Schoning Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to: Given name * Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate * Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark * Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–1 ...
, the historian, and
Johan Ernst Gunnerus Johan Ernst Gunnerus (26 February 1718 – 25 September 1773) was a Norway, Norwegian bishop and botanist. Gunnerus was born at Oslo, Christiania. He was bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros from 1758 until his death and also a professor of theology ...
, bishop of the
Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...
. In 1779, Strøm was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...
. He was also elected as a member of a number of science academies in Norway, Denmark and Germany.


References


Other sources

*Apelseth, Arne (1995) ''Hans Strøm (1726-1797): ein kommentert bibliografi'' (Volda: Høgskulen i Volda) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stroem, Hans 1726 births 1797 deaths University of Copenhagen alumni 18th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy 18th-century Norwegian zoologists People from Møre og Romsdal Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences People educated at the Bergen Cathedral School