Björn Gunnlaugsson
Encyclopedia
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and cartographer. For the Icelandic Literary Society
Icelandic Literary Society
The Icelandic Literary Society , founded in 1816, is a society dedicated to promoting and strengthening Icelandic language, literature and learning....
, he surveyed the country from 1831 to 1843. The results of his work were published in a topographic
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
map of Iceland at a scale of 1:480,000 on four sheets. It was the first complete map of Iceland and, although generally dated to 1844, was not completed until 1848. It was published under the direction of Olaf Nikolas Olsen
Olaf Nikolas Olsen
Olaf Nikolas Olsen was a cartographer and an officer of the Danish army. He taught cartography at the Royal Cadet School and from 1830 on also at the new Army Academy...
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. In 1849, a smaller edition on one sheet at a scale of 1:960,000 appeared. For his survey work, Björn received the Order of the Dannebrog
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...
in 1846 and the French Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
in 1859.
Life
Björn was born at Tannstaðir, a remote farm on the HrútafjörðurHrútafjörður
Hrútafjörður is a fjord in the north-west of Iceland. It is around 36 km long and lies to the south of Húnaflói bay.The junction and farmstead of Brú is at its southern tip and serves as a local agricultural service station.-See also:...
in Húnavatnssýsla in north-western Iceland. Although the family was poor, they sent him to school to the local priests, who recognized his intellectual abilities. In 1808, Björn passed an exam in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
, obtaining a recommendation by the bishop for studying at the university of Copenhagen. But these plans were delayed by the Gunboat War
Gunboat War
The Gunboat War was the naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the conventional Royal Navy...
between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Only after the end of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
could Björn travel to Denmark and enrolled in 1817 at the 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, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, where he studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and mathematics. During his studies, he won the university's gold medal for mathematics twice.
In 1822, a new post for a school teacher in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, mathematics, and history opened at the school of Bessastaðir
Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík
Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík is the oldest gymnasium in Reykjavík, Iceland....
in Iceland and was offered to Björn. He abandoned his theologic studies and accepted the post, returning to Iceland and taking up his duties as a school teacher on May 14, 1822. When the school was moved to Reykjavík in 1846, Björn followed. Five years later he was appointed chief assistant (Yfirkennari) to the rector. He retired in 1862.
Björn Gunnlaugsson was married twice; first to Ragnheiður Bjarnadóttir (d. 1834), after her death he married in 1844 Guðlaug Aradóttir (d. 1873).
Work
Björn was an exceptional figure in early 19th-century Iceland. The abstract thoughts of this gentle learned man were beyond the grasp of most of his compatriots, who regarded him as an eccentric with few of the practical skills they so highly valued. Yet the simple folk also felt a certain kind of respectful awe towards this scholar.Björn knew the inclination towards the practical of his fellow countrymen well. When he returned to Iceland as a school teacher for mathematics, the curriculum at the grammar school at Bessastaðir
Bessastaðir
Bessastaðir is today the official residence of the President of Iceland and is situated on Álftanes, not far from the capital city, Reykjavík.- History :...
covered barely more than the four basic operations addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In his inauguration speech at the school, he emphasized the practical applications of mathematics. He tried to take mathematics education to a higher level, but failed ultimately as his treatment of the subject was often too abstract for his pupils and he was, according to Benedikz, "not capable of handling a class of mathematical ignoramuses".
The only studied mathematician in Iceland in the 19th century, Björn was isolated from the academic community in Europe, and the intellectual environment made him turn to the didactics and the applications of mathematics, and also to philosophy.
Uppdráttr Íslands – Map of Iceland
Heinrich Christian Schumacher
Heinrich Christian Schumacher was a German-Danish astronomer.-Biography:He was born at Bramstedt, in Holstein, and studied at Kiel, Jena, Copenhagen, and Göttingen. In 1810, he became adjunct professor of astronomy in Copenhagen...
at Altona
Altona, Hamburg
Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...
, proposed to the Danish government to undertake a land survey of Iceland, and asked for the instruments used by the Danish Navy in their earlier coastal surveys to be sent to Iceland. His request was ignored at first. In 1831, the Literary Society of Iceland decided to sponsor him and helped him obtain the necessary instruments. From 1831 to 1843, Björn spent the summers surveying the country together with one assistant, and in the winters he would draw the maps. He did not lay a new baseline
Baseline (surveying)
In the United States Public Land Survey System, a baseline is the principal east-west line that divides survey townships between north and south. The baseline meets its corresponding meridian at the point of origin, or initial point, for the land survey...
but started from the earlier coastal surveys the Danish Navy had undertaken in the period of 1774 to 1818, extending the triangulation
Triangulation
In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline, rather than measuring distances to the point directly...
inland. The Literary Society supported him with a yearly grant, and so did the Danish government from 1836 to 1846.
Björn's hand-drawn maps were sent to Copenhagen for preparing the publication. Olaf Nikolas Olsen
Olaf Nikolas Olsen
Olaf Nikolas Olsen was a cartographer and an officer of the Danish army. He taught cartography at the Royal Cadet School and from 1830 on also at the new Army Academy...
had been appointed as the director of publication; he proposed to publish the map on four sheets, and he probably also defined the scale of 1:480,000 and the conical projection used. The map was published under Olsen's name, with the Literary Society of Iceland as the publisher, and paid by the Danish treasury. The title page was in Danish and French. Although dated 1844, it was probably not completed until 1848. In 1849, a smaller version of the map on one sheet at a scale of 1:960,000 was published.
Þorvaldur Thoroddsen
Þorvaldur Thoroddsen was an Icelandic geologist and geographer.-Life:Þorvaldur was the son of the writer Jón Thoroddsen. He graduated from the Learned School of Reykjavík in 1875 and then immediately proceeded to Copenhagen to further his studies...
, whose map was printed in 1901. Still Björn's survey is considered a great advancement, especially given the limited resources he had at his disposition. In recognition of his outstanding survey work Björn Gunnlaugsson was awarded the Knight's cross of the Order of the Dannebrog
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order of Denmark, instituted in 1671 by Christian V. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knights in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons...
in 1846 and also received the Knight's cross of the French Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. The map was also exhibited at the World's fair
World's Fair
World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
at Paris in 1878
Exposition Universelle (1878)
The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May through to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.-Construction:...
, where it was awarded a prize.
Njóla – "Night"
Njóla is a long didactic theological-philosophical poem Björn wrote mostly during his survey travels when the weather did not permit to work or in the evenings. It was published originally in the annual report of 1842 of the Bessastaðir school, and then in 1853 with some minor revisions and again in 1884 in Reykjavík. The poem begins by describing a night view of the skies, and then introduces the reader to astronomic distances, explaining how long a cannonball shot from the sun would take to reach each of the planets—and then the next star. In later stanzas, he describes the birth of the universe, covers Newton's laws and explains gravity. He interweaves such physics and mathematics framed as poetry with theological and philosophical musings about the purpose of the universe, the nature of good and evil, and God's intent.Tölvísi: A mathematical textbook
Towards the end of his teaching career, Björn wrote down the mathematics he would have liked to teach in the Tölvísi, a mathematical textbook unprecedented in Iceland, both in its breadth and depth, but also in the rigor of its proofs. Moreover, it was written in IcelandicIcelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
; in an attempt to make mathematics more accessible to his fellow countrymen, Björn even tried to find Icelandic names for mathematical concepts that hitherto had only been named using Danish or Latin words. But the work was largely ignored, and Björn's Icelandic terms never caught on. Begun in 1856, volume 1 was published in Reykjavík in 1865 by E. Þórðarson, but its second part was still unpublished in 2003 and existed only as an unpublished manuscript at the National and University Library of Iceland
National and University Library of Iceland
Landsbókasafn Íslands — Háskólabókasafn is the national library of Iceland which also functions as the university library of the University of Iceland. The library was established on December 1, 1994 in Reykjavík, Iceland, with the merger of the former national library, Landsbókasafn Íslands...
. Gunnlaugsson's first biographers, Melsteð and Jensson, wrote that it was "a book praised by all but read by extremely few".
Literature
- Benedikt S. Benedikz: "The Wise Man with the Child's Heart: Björn Gunnlaugsson, 1788-1876", in Scandinavian Studies 75(4), pp. 567–590; 2003. ISSN 0036-5637.
- Kristín Bjarnadóttir: "Fundamental Reasons for Mathematical Education in Iceland", in "Bharath SriramanBharath SriramanBharath Sriraman is an Indian born academic editor, mathematician,and educator best known for his contributions to theory development in mathematics education, and gifted education. He graduated with a B.S...
(Ed)" "International Perspectives on Social Justice in Mathematics Education"The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast: Monograph Series in Mathematics Education Monograph 1, p. 137–150; University of Montana, 2007. ISSN 1551-3440. URL last accessed 2007-09-12. - Ágúst H. Bjarnason: "Um Björn Gunnlaugsson", in Timarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga, vol. 20 (1938), pp. 17–28.
- Emil Elberling: Gunnlaugsson, Björn, entry in Th. Westrin (ed.): Nordisk familjebokNordisk familjebokNordisk familjebok is a Swedish encyclopedia, published between 1876 and 1957.- History :The first edition was published in 20 volumes between 1876 and 1899. The first edition is known as the "Iðunn edition" because of the picture of Iðunn on the cover...
: Konversationslexikon och Realencyklopedi, 2nd ed. (1909), vol. 10, p. 643. URL last accessed 2007-09-19. - Björn Gunnlaugsson: De mensura et delineatione Islandiae, Viðey, 1834.
- Kr. KaalundPeter Erasmus Christian KaalundPeter Erasmus Christian Kaalund was a Danish philologist specialized on Scandinavian studies. He was the main librarian of the Arnamagnæanske håndskriftsamling, the collection of Icelandic manuscripts of Árni Magnússon...
: Gunnlaugsson, Bjørn, entry in C. F. BrickaCarl Frederik BrickaCarl Frederik Bricka was a Danish archivist, historian, and biographer. He was the publisher of the Dansk biografisk lexikon: tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537–1814, a large Danish biographic encyclopedia published in 19 volumes from 1887 to 1905.- References :*L.L.: , in Blangstrup,...
(ed.): Dansk biografisk lexikon: tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537–1814; Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1887–1905; vol. VI (1892), p. 321f. URL last accessed 2007-09-12. - Páll MelsteðPáll Melsteð (historian)Páll Melsteð was an Icelandic historian, editor and member of the Althing. In 1892 he was awarded the Order of the Dannebrog.-Early life:...
& Björn Jensson: "Björn Gunnlaugsson", in Andvari, vol. 9 (1883), pp. 3–16. - P.M.: Obituary for Björn Gunnlaugsson, Ísafold, March 24, 1876. In Icelandic; DjVuDjVuDjVu is a computer file format designed primarily to store scanned documents, especially those containing a combination of text, line drawings, and photographs. It uses technologies such as image layer separation of text and background/images, progressive loading, arithmetic coding, and lossy...
format. URL last accessed 2007-09-12. - Jökull Sævarsson: Gunnlaugsson's map of Iceland, (with text from Sigurðsson (1982)), Antique maps of Iceland, National and University Library of Iceland. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
- Haraldur Sigurðsson: "Iceland on maps.", pp. 7–15 in Kortasafn Háskóla Íslands, Reykjavík 1982. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.
- Otto J. Björnsson: Brot úr ævi og starfi Björns Gunnlaugssonar riddara og yfirkennara; Reykjavík, Raunvísindastofnun Háskólans, 1990. In Icelandic.
- Þorvaldur ThoroddsenÞorvaldur ThoroddsenÞorvaldur Thoroddsen was an Icelandic geologist and geographer.-Life:Þorvaldur was the son of the writer Jón Thoroddsen. He graduated from the Learned School of Reykjavík in 1875 and then immediately proceeded to Copenhagen to further his studies...
: Landfræðissaga Íslands; 4 volumes, Copenhagen; S. L. Möller, 1892–1904. In Icelandic. On Björn Gunnlaugsson, see in particular vol. 3, pp. 300ff.
Further reading
- Otto J. Björnsson: Varð Gauss á vegi Björns Gunnlaugssonar?; Reykjavík, Raunvísindastofnun Háskólans, 1997. In Icelandic.
- Halldór Hermannsson: The Cartography of Iceland; Islandica XXI, Fiske Icelandic Collection, Cornell University Library, 1931.
- Steindór Sigurðsson: "Björn Gunnlaugsson og Uppdráttur Íslands"; Skírnir 111 (1938), pp. 166–173. In Icelandic.
External links
- The 1849 edition of Gunnlaugsson's map.
- Björn Gunnlaugsson: Tøblur yfir Sólarinnar sýnilega gáng á Íslandi Viðeyar Klaustri, 1836. Sun declinationDeclinationIn astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle. Declination in astronomy is comparable to geographic latitude, but projected onto the celestial sphere. Declination is measured in degrees north and...
tables. In Icelandic. URL last accessed 2007-09-15. - N.N.: 200 ára afmælis Björns Gunnlaugsonnar minnst, MorgunblaðiðMorgunblaðiðMorgunblaðið is a newspaper published in Iceland, founded by Vilhjálmur Finsen & Olaf Björnsson, brother to the first president. The first issue, only eight pages long, was published on 2 November 1913. Six years later, in 1919, the corporation Árvakur bought out the company...
, September 24, 1988. Newspaper article on the occasion of the bicentennial of Gunnlaugsson's birthday. In Icelandic; DjVu format. URL last accessed 2007-09-12. - Ágústa P. Snæland: "Hvað æðst sýnist í heimi", Lesbók Morgunblaðsins, May 15, 1993. Newspaper article on Njóla, in Icelandic; DjVu format, has an image of the portrait of Gunnlaugsson by Sigurður málari. URL last accessed 2007-09-12.