The Scandinavian Scientist Conferences (''Nordiske Naturforskermøde/Nordiska Naturforskarmöte'' or ''Naturforskerselskabet/Naturforskarsällskapet,'' English:''Scandinavian Association of Naturalists'') was a series of meetings 1839–1936 for scientists and physicists from

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, later also

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, in the era

Scandinavism Scandinavism (; ; ), also called Scandinavianism or pan-Scandinavianism,"Pan-Scandinavi ...

History

The scientific community in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

were small and scattered, but collectively they had by the 1830s attained the critical mass for meeting at conferences. The inspiration came from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, where the scientists since 1822 had held conferences to improve communication in the fragmented geopolitical landscape. The creation of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

(1831) drew on the same source of inspiration. From the start, the Scandinavian Scientist Conferences became an outlet for important scientific results. However, towards the end of the 19th century, uni-disciplinary conferences and scientific journals became competitors to the Scandinavian conference as vehicle for scientific communication. As the presentations given at the Scandinavian conferences increasingly were summaries of results already published elsewhere, the meetings lost their importance.The early meetings were held every second year, then every third year, and then at increasingly irregular intervals. In the 20th century, only four Scandinavian Scientist Conferences were held, the last in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

1936.

Notes

References

* Eriksson, Nils (1991) "I andans kraft, på sannings stråt": De skandinaviska naturforskarmötena 1839–1936. ''Gothenburg studies in the history of science and ideas'' 12, 512 pp. {{ISBN, 91-7346-233-0 Science conferences Scandinavia 19th-century conferences 20th-century conferences