Eigil Friis-Christensen

"I was in Greenland, on my first assignment in my new job as geophysicist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, setting up a chain of magnetometer stations on the west coast...

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Eigil Friis-Christensen is an expert in space physics, and Director of the Danish National Space Center

Danish National Space Center

The Danish National Space Center is a Danish sector research Institute and a part of the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation....
.

Friis-Christensen received a Cand. Mag. (Ph.D.) in Geophysics

Geophysics

Geophysics, a major discipline of the Earth sciences, is the study of the Earth by the quantitative observation of its physical properties, especially by Seismology, Electromagnetism, Radioactive decay, galvanic and potential field methods....
 from University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, a majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees....
 in 1971. In 1972, he was a geophysicist at the Danish Meteorological Institute. His interest in sun activity began in August, in his tent, when he experienced an extreme solar storm:

"I was in Greenland, on my first assignment in my new job as geophysicist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, setting up a chain of magnetometer stations on the west coast... watching ink pens of my recorder going so wild that they nearly tore the paper chart apart -- we had no digital recording at that time -- and I wondered whether such big events could also have an influence in the lower atmosphere, on weather and climate. That storm cut off my contact to the outside world for nine days -- all radio communication was blacked out -- so I had lots of time to reflect on the enormity of the forces at play."

Between 1976 and 1997, he was Principal Investigator of the Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is a member country of the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago....
 Magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument....
 Array. Friis-Christensen's 1991 paper, "Length of the Solar Cycle: An Indicator of Solar Activity Closely Associated with Climate", published in Science, presented his findings on global warming and sun activity correlation, pre-dating the Rio Conference and Kyoto Conference. The New York Times reviewed the Science article on 5 November 1991, stating, "While the correlation established by Dr. Friis-Christensen and Dr. Lassen falls short of definite proof, a number of scientists nevertheless called it remarkable in its close fit between the solar and temperature trends."

Between 1991 and 1997, he was Head, Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division, Danish Meteorological Institute

Danish Meteorological Institute

The Danish Meteorological Institute is the official Denmark meteorological institute, administrated by the Ministry of Transport and Energy of Denmark....
. In 1992, he was also Project scientist, first Danish satellite, Ørsted, which was launched February 1999.

In 1997, Friis-Christensen and Henrik Svensmark

Henrik Svensmark

Henrik Svensmark is a physicist at the Danish National Space Center in Copenhagen who studies the effects of cosmic rays on cloud formation.His work is connected to controversy in the area of the global warming issue....
 were the earliest scientists to suggest a possible link between galactic cosmic rays and global climate change assisted by solar wind

Solar wind

The solar wind is a Electric current—a Plasma —ejected from the stellar atmosphere of the sun. It consists mostly of electrons and protons with energies of about 1 electron volt....
 intensity variation, termed cosmoclimatology. In 2002, he became Lead Investigator of Swarm. Friis-Christensen gave the Birkeland

Birkeland

Are you looking for:Places*Birkeland, Aust-Agder, a place in Birkenes municipality, Norway.*Birkeland, Hordaland, a place in Austevoll municipality, Norway....
 lecture "Unrest on the sun - storms on the Earth. The magnetic connection" in Oslo on 27 September 2007 .

He was Adjunct Professor of geophysics and space physics 1996 to 2006 at the Niels Bohr Institute

Niels Bohr Institute

The Niels Bohr Institute is a research institute at the University of Copenhagen. The research of the institute spans astronomy, geophysics, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum mechanics and biophysics....
 of University of Copenhagen

University of Copenhagen

The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, a majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees....
 and has authored over 140 research articles or books. He lectures worldwide including a 2008 presentation at the U.S. National Institute of Aerospace.

Awards and honors

• 1995, "Director Ib Henriksens" research prize.
• 1995, elected member, executive committee, International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy
  Aeronomy
  
  Aeronomy is the science of the upper region of the atmosphere, where dissociation and ionization are important. The term aeronomy was introduced by Sydney Chapman, and the above definition stems from 1960....
  , IAGA.
• 1996, elected Associate of London's Royal Astronomical Society
  Royal Astronomical Society
  
  The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomy research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV of the United Kingdom....
  
• 2003, Vice-President, executive committee, IAGA
• Appointed member, International Steering Committee, Solar-Terrestrial Energy Programme, STEP and S-RAMP.

External links