Adolf Hoel

Professor Adolf Hoel
Adolf Hoel (1911)
Rectorof theUniversity of Oslo
In office 1941–1945
Preceded by	Didrik Arup Seip
Succeeded by	Otto Lous Mohr
Personal details
Born	(1879-05-15)May 15, 1879
Died	February 19, 1964(1964-02-19)(aged 84)
Nationality	Norwegian

Adolf Hoel(15 May 1879 – 19 February 1964) was a Norwegiangeologist,environmentalist andPolar regionresearcher. He led several scientific expeditions to Svalbard andGreenland.Hoel has been described as one of the most iconic and influential figures in Norwegian polar exploration in the first half of the 20th century, alongsideFridtjof NansenandRoald Amundsen.His focus on and research of the polar areas has been largely credited as the reason Norway has sovereignty overSvalbardandQueen Maud Landin the Antarctica.

Hoel was the founding director of theNorwegian Polar Instituteand served asrectorof theUniversity of Osloand as President of theNorwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature.

Biography

Hoel was born inSøruminAkershus,Norway. He attendedHans Nielsen HaugesMinde in Oslo and theUniversity of Oslotaking hiscand.real.examination in 1904. He married Elisabeth Birgitte Fredrikke Thomsen in 1916.

Beginning in 1909 Hoel took part in about 30 Norwegian government-sponsored expeditions to Arctic areas, becoming also the main driving force behind Norwegian scientific activities in East Greenland.Hoel became a fellow of theUniversity of Osloin 1911 and adocentin 1919. In the second half of the 1920s Hoel took up the cause of Norwegian claims in East Greenland. Together withGustav Smedal,Hoel eventually became the main leader of the "Greenland case" (Grønlandssaken) that tried to bring East Greenland under Norwegian sovereignty. Inspired by trapperHallvard Devoldthe movement began to build a network of trapping stations, combined with surveying and exploring the almost uninhabited area. By 1929 theNorges Svalbard og Ishavsundersøkelser(NSIU) — "Norwegian Svalbard and Arctic Ocean Survey" established by Hoel in 1928, sent well-organized research expeditions to East Greenland. Expedition vessels also supplied the trapping stations with equipment financed by theArctic Trading Co.(Arktisk Næringsdrift),a company that Hoel had helped to set up.

In 1933, he became a member of theNasjonal Samlingparty of the formerminister of defence,Vidkun Quisling,largely due to the Norwegian nationalist approach to the Norwegian occupation of a part of Greenland in the early 1930s. Hoel was appointedprofessorof the University of Oslo in 1940 and was rector of the university from 1941 to 1945, during theGerman occupation of Norway.He was the leading Norwegian researcher atSvalbardin the early 20th century, and in 1948 theNorges Svalbard- og Ishavsundersøkelser,which he had founded, became theNorwegian Polar Institute.He was President of theNorwegian Society for the Conservation of Naturefrom 1935 to 1945.

After World War II, he finished his work for the Norwegian Polar Institute on the history of Svalbard (Svalbard. Svalbards historie 1596-1965) which was published as a three-volume set after his death.

Honours

The mineralhoelite,theAdolf Hoel Glacierin Greenland and theHoel MountainsinAntarcticaare named in his honour.