Sverker Sörlin (born 6 August 1956 in

Åsele Åsele () is a locality and the seat of Åsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,798 inhabitants in 2010. Its elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height ab ...

Västerbotten Västerbotten (), sometimes called West Bothnia or Westrobothnia, is a province (''landskap'') in northern Sweden, located by the Gulf of Bothnia. It borders the provinces of Ångermanland, Lapland and Norrbotten. The region is famous for Väs ...

) is a Swedish historian of ideas, professor of

environmental history Environmental history is the study of Human impact on the environment, human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged ...

, and writer.

Biography

Sörlin has a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in the

history of ideas Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

from

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

from 1988. In 1993, he assumed the first chair in environmental history 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 ...

, also at Umeå University. Since 2007, he is professor of environmental history at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment at the

KTH Royal Institute of Technology KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a Public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in Institute of technology, engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest te ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. He has held an adjunct position at the

Stockholm Resilience Centre Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), explores how people and nature can live and develop on a planet under pressure. The centre is a collaboration between Stockholm University and the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish A ...

(2005–2012), and visiting positions at

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

(1993),

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

(2004–2005),

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 ...

(2006),

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

(2012–2013), and the

Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

(2013–2014). In 2011, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by

University of Turku The University of Turku (, shortened ''UTU'') is a multidisciplinary public university with eight faculties located in the city of Turku in southwestern Finland. The university also has campuses in Rauma and Pori and research stations in Kevo ...

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, ...

. Sörlin is a Non-resident Long-term Fellow at Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

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 ...

. Sörlin was Associate Director for the Center for History of Science in 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 ...

1988–1990, and the founding director of the Swedish Institute for Studies in Education and Research, SISTER (2000–2003). Between 2006 and 2009, he chaired the Swedish committee for the

International Polar Year The International Polar Years (IPY) are collaborative, international efforts with intensive research focus on the polar regions. Karl Weyprecht, an Austro-Hungarian naval officer, motivated the endeavor in 1875, but died before it first occurred ...

. In 1994–1998 and 2005–2009, he served on the Swedish Government's Research Advisory Board, and he is currently on the Government's Environmental Research board. Sörlin has published in the fields of history of science, environmental history, the history of forestry, human ecology, environmental humanities, European history, research policy, innovations studies, and the history and politics of higher education. He frequently appears in Swedish media, and also writes popular science and narrative non-fiction. He edited '' Tvärsnitt'', a popular science magazine, between 1986 and 1991. He has received several awards, including

Augustpriset The August Prize () is an annual Swedish literary prize awarded each year since 1989 by the Swedish Publishers' Association. The prize is awarded to the best Swedish book of the year, in three categories. The Swedish Publishers' Association also ...

(2004) and the Lars Salvius award (2012). Since its inception on 1 January 2018, Sörlin has been a member of the independent expert body, the Climate Policy Council.

Selected books (in English)

*''Denationalizing Science: The Contexts of International Scientific Practice'', with Elisabeth Crawford & Terry Shinn (1993) *''Sustainability – the Challenge: People, Power, and the Environment'', with L. Anders Sandberg (1998) *''Narrating the Arctic: A Cultural History of Nordic Scientific Practices'', with Michael T. Bravo (2002) *''Knowledge Society vs. Knowledge Economy'', with Hebe Vessuri (2007) *''Nature’s End: Environment and History'', with Paul Warde (2009) *''Science, Geopolitics and Culture in the Polar Region - Norden Beyond Borders'' (2013) *''The Future of Nature: Documents of Global Change'', with Libby Robin och Paul Warde (2013) *''The Environment: A History of the Idea'', with Libby Robin and Paul Warde (2018) *''Grounding Urban Natures: Histories and Futures of Urban Ecologies'', with Henrik Ernstson (2019) *''Ice Humanities: Living, Working and Thinking in a Melting World'', with Klaus Dodds (2022) *''Pathways: Exploring the Routes of a Movement Heritage'', with Daniel Svensson & Katarina Saltzman (2022) *''Resource Extraction and Arctic Communities: The New Extractivist Paradigm'' (2023) *
Stockholm and the Rise of Global Environmental Governance - The Human Environment
' with Eric Paglia (2025)
''Sno - A history''
forthcoming 2025

Prizes and awards

* 2011 –

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

* 2022 –

at University of Bergen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorlin, Sverker 1956 births Living people Environmental historians Umeå University alumni Academic staff of Umeå University Academic staff of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology Swedish non-fiction writers August Prize winners People from Åsele Municipality