Eigil Friis-Christensen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eigil Friis-Christensen is an expert in space physics, and Director of the Danish National Space Center.^[1]

Friis-Christensen received a Cand. Mag. (Ph.D.) in Geophysics from University of Copenhagen in 1971.^[2] 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:^[3]

"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 Magnetometer 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.^[3] 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."^[4]

Between 1991 and 1997, he was Head, Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division, Danish Meteorological Institute. In 1992, he was also Project scientist, first Danish satellite, Ørsted, which was launched February 1999.

In 1997, Friis-Christensen and Henrik Svensmark were the earliest scientists to suggest a possible link between galactic cosmic rays and global climate change assisted by solar wind intensity variation, termed cosmoclimatology. In 2002, he became Lead Investigator of Swarm. Friis-Christensen gave the Birkeland lecture "Unrest on the sun - storms on the Earth. The magnetic connection" in Oslo on 27 September 2007 .^[5]

He was Adjunct Professor of geophysics and space physics 1996 to 2006 ^[6] at the Niels Bohr Institute of University of Copenhagen^[7] and has authored over 140 research articles or books.^[5] He lectures worldwide^[2] including a 2008 presentation at the U.S. National Institute of Aerospace.^[8]

[edit] Awards and honors

1995, "Director Ib Henriksens" research prize.
1995, elected member, executive committee, International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, IAGA.
1996, elected Associate of London's Royal Astronomical Society
2003, Vice-President, executive committee, IAGA
Appointed member, International Steering Committee, Solar-Terrestrial Energy Programme, STEP and S-RAMP.

[edit] References

^ Eigil Friis-Christensen. spacecenter.dk. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ ^a ^b Correlations between Solar Activity and Global Climate. ntva.no. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ ^a ^b Solomon, Lawrence. "Science, not politics", National Post, 2007-04-13. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ Stevens, William K.. "Danes Link Sunspot Intensity to Global Temperature Rise", The New York Times, 1991-11-05. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ ^a ^b Astad, Anne-Marie. The Birkeland Lecture 2007. knva.no. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ Professor Dr. Eigil Friis-Christensen, Danish National Space Center, DTU. dnva.no. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ CV - Eigil Friis-Christensen. isac-esa.org. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
^ Solar Activity Variations, Cosmic Rays, Clouds, and Climate Change. nianet.org (2008-02-28). Retrieved on 2008-04-23.

Friis-Christensen, E., & Lassen, K. (1991-11-01)"Length of the solar cycle: An indicator of solar activity closely associated with climate", Science, 254, No. 5032, 698-700., DOI 10.1126/science.254.5032.698