Lennart Von Post
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Ernst Jakob Lennart von Post (16June 188411January 1951) was a Swedish
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 ...
and geologist. He was the first to publish quantitative analysis of pollen and is counted as one of the founders of
palynology Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...
. He was a professor at
Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
1929–1950.


Early life

Lennart von Post was born in Johannesberg, near
Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...
in
Västmanland County Västmanland County () is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland County, Södermanland, Örebro County, Örebro, Gävleborg County, Gävleborg, Dalarna County, Dalarna and Uppsala Coun ...
, Sweden. He was the son of Carl-Fabian Axel von Post (1849–1927) and Beata Jacqueline Charlotta Christina (1852–1885). Von Post was an only child. His father served in the
Swedish Army The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...
as a judge-advocate but also worked as a civilian lawyer, farmer and assistant cantonal judge.


Education

Von Post studied geology at
Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...
from 1902 to 1907, eventually obtaining his ''licentiat'' degree. At Uppsala he learned from lecturers such as A.G. Högbom, who developed the concept of the geochemical
carbon cycle The carbon cycle is a part of the biogeochemical cycle where carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of Earth. Other major biogeochemical cycles include the nitrogen cycle and the water cycl ...
and Rutger Sernander, of the Blytt-Sernander
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
sequence. Von Post began working on a history of the development of the Mästermyr marsh on
Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...
with Jakob Ljungqvist in 1902. This was likely the first research project von Post was involved with, however his first publications appeared in 1903, describing the ''
Littorina ''Littorina'' is a genus of small sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.WoRMS (2011). Littorina Férussac, 1822. Accessed through: World Register of Marine ...
'' wall. This paper was important since it described, along with another paper by Kjellmark, layers of ''Littorina'' shells in beach exposures leading to estimates of
isostatic rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...
and post glacial transgression in Sweden.


Scientific career

Von Post worked for the Swedish Geological Survey for 21 years as a
peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...
specialist. During this time he developed the technique of using
pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...
grains to build stratigraphies that could be used to correlate peat layers locally. By 1916, along with work by (Gustav?) Lagerheim for N.O. Holst, the concept of using pollen to describe immigration of plant species and changes in the relative numbers of plants took hold. This work led to the publication of the first modern pollen diagram in 1916, the same year that von Post presented his now famous lecture in Christiania, although the two pertained to different subject matter. His work was seminal in beginning the field of palynology however von Post rarely published in a language other than Swedish meaning his work did not reach the wide audience that others, including Gunnar Erdtman, did. Regardless, von Post was highly influential, working with palynologists including Gunnar Erdtman, Knut Fægri and others. It is notable however that conflict between Erdtman and von Post led to Erdtman's relative obscurity in academia for a number of years. Von Post discovered by accident a small canyon near
Degerfors Degerfors () is a locality and the seat of Degerfors Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden, with 7,160 inhabitants in 2010. Degerfors is the sixth-largest city in Örebro County. It is located at the southern shore of lake Möckeln, 13 km (8 mi) so ...
in 1923 which he then held was the elusive outlet of the
Ancylus Lake Ancylus Lake is a name given by geologists to a large freshwater lake that existed in northern Europe approximately from 8,750 to 7,850 years Before Christ, BC, being in effect one of various predecessors to the modern Baltic Sea. Origin, evoluti ...
. His idea received support and led to a collaboration with Henrik Munthe, a colleague from the
Geological Survey of Sweden ''not to be confused with the Geologiska föreningen ()'' Geological Survey of Sweden (, SGU) is a Government agencies in Sweden, Swedish government agency that was founded by Axel Erdmann in 1858, that supervises all mineral deposits activities ( ...
. However they fell into personal disputes and collaboration ended in 1927. Von Post's proposed outlet, named Svea River, was never fully accepted with alternative theories for the origin of the canyon being proposed. Notably Astrid Cleve-Euler proposed in 1946 the canyon was formed by subglacial drainage of a lake. The existence of Svea River was fully discarded in 1981 when
pothole A pothole is a pot-shaped depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affecte ...
s in it were found to contain sediments that predate the Ancylus Lake. At the time of his death in 1951 von Post was preparing a large study on
Klarälven Klarälven ("The clear river" in Swedish) is a river flowing through Norway and Sweden. Together with Göta älv, which it is called as the river has passed through the lake Vänern, thus regarded as an entity, Göta älv—Klarälven is the l ...
which was left unfinished.


Awards and recognition

* 1906 – Linnaeus Prize * 1927 – Honorary Doctorate:
Stockholms Högskola Stockholm University (SU) () is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social sciences, and natu ...
* 1939 – nominated as a 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 ...
* 1941 – Honorary Doctorate:
University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...
* 1950 – Honorary Doctorate:
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. ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Post, Lennart 20th-century Swedish geologists Swedish naturalists Quaternary geologists Academic staff of Stockholm University Geological Survey of Sweden personnel 20th-century Swedish nobility Palynologists 1884 births 1951 deaths Uppsala University alumni People from Västerås Municipality 20th-century naturalists