23 Facts About Johan Hjort

Johan Hjort was a Norwegian fisheries scientist, marine zoologist, and oceanographer.

Johan Hjort was among the most prominent and influential marine zoologists of his time.

Johan Hjort was the first child of Johan S A Hjort, a professor of ophthalmology, and Elisabeth Falsen, of the Falsen family.

Johan Hjort had wanted to become a zoologist since his early schooldays, but to please his father he took initial courses in medicine, before following Fridtjof Nansen's advice and his own wish, leaving for the University of Munich to study zoology with Richard Hertwig.

Johan Hjort then worked at the in Naples on an embryological problem, which led to his doctorate in Munich at the age of 23 in 1892.

Johan Hjort returned to Norway to become curator of the University Zoological Museum, where he developed more modern courses for students, and in 1894 he succeeded G O Sars as Research Fellow in Fisheries.

Johan Hjort became the director at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, from 1900 to 1916.

Johan Hjort was the Norwegian delegate at ICES from 1902 to 1938, when he was elected President, a position he held to his death in 1948.

For several years, Johan Hjort had been interested in the statistical nature and causes of the large fluctuations of fish populations.

Johan Hjort was the first to apply actuarial statistical methods to study these phenomena, aided by measurement techniques that made it possible to estimate the age of sampled fish.

Johan Hjort's studies culminated in the 1914 article Fluctuations in the Great Fisheries of Northern Europe, which was a pivotal work in the development of fisheries science.

Johan Hjort considered implications of such studies important for human society, influenced in such views by Malthus, Darwin and others.

Johan Hjort was early on concerned with effects of over-fishing, with the declining whale populations in the Antarctic an early warning, and worked on methods for determining the optimum catch that would secure sustainable populations.

Johan Hjort was a versatile individual who could apply his broadly based theoretical knowledge in strikingly practical ways.

Johan Hjort is credited with being the "practical inventor of shrimp fishery", on both sides of the Atlantic.

Around 1898, Johan Hjort adapted earlier designs of deep-sea trawls on the soft bottoms of the deep Norwegian fjords and soon discovered enormous stocks of Pandalus borealis.

Johan Hjort went prawn fishing, returned to harbour with a spectacular catch and dumped it on the quay.

Johan Hjort was asked to take part in negotiations between Norway and England to reach agreement on fish-purchase, and he did so, on the assumption that the agreement would be made public.

In protest, Johan Hjort resigned, both from the negotiations and as Director of Fisheries, and left Norway for some years.

Johan Hjort was a frequent contributor to public debate, and wrote books, essays and newspaper articles on themes ranging from popularisation of science to politics and philosophy.

Johan Hjort was an elected fellow of a number of foreign scientific societies, including the Royal Society and the American Philosophical Society.

Johan Hjort was given the first ever Agassiz Medal, and received the Orders of St Olav, of Nordstjernen, and of Dannebrog.

Johan Hjort had four children with Wanda Maria von der Marwitz, whom he met while a student in Munchen in 1893.